


Silver Tongue

by Theonewhosawitall



Series: Kwamis and Their Charges [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Blushing, F/M, Kwami Swap, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Has a Crush on Chat Noir, Teenage Rebellion, Tongue Piercings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-16 18:50:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13642356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theonewhosawitall/pseuds/Theonewhosawitall
Summary: Chat Noir is known for his silver tongue. Adrien too has silver in his tongue. Piercing at least. When Adrien and Chat Noir appeared with piercing at the same time, it was enough to leave Marinette's feelings twisted.Avoiding Adrien while she figures things out, Marinette can barely look at him. Now Ladybug was finally beginning to like him, Marinette seemed to hate him! Poor Adrien had no idea what to do.So Plagg steps in to help.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Saw some awesome fanart on tumblr and I really wanted to write a story about Ladybug getting all flustered around him because of it, Check it out: http://random-soup-of-an-artist-ideas.tumblr.com/post/151271564446/i-saw-a-fan-art-about-him-getting-a-piercing-and-i

It was an easy act of rebellion that would make more of a point to his father than simply sneaking out did. This one was a lot more prominent, and more people would see it. His father rarely noticed him sneak out because he was supposed to be at piano practice so put on music to get away with it. Plus he was too practiced at it now. If he did get caught, it would impact Chat far more than Adrien ever assumed it would.   
This wouldn't affect Chat.  
Well not so much.

As soon as they had chosen what colour the small titanium ball was going to be (unsure what else to pick, he went for silver) they marked the position on his tongue. With a smirk, the piercer played with the clamp for a moment. That was what made him nervous. He understood that the clamp meant he couldn’t move, and therefore kept the target accurate, he felt stiff enough and it just made him nervous now. it was the first time since hearing the bell jingle above the door that he found himself thinking of Ladybug.   
What would she say when she saw this?  
would it be unprofessional for a hero to have a tongue piercing?  
It was unprofessional for a hero to be a rebel, and no matter how you twisted it, this was a rebellion against his father. Plagg had suggested it, but he’d been sarcastic at the time…  it wasn’t too late to back out right?

There was a white-hot pain for two seconds, that faded into a throbbing ache as the needle shot through. Then the needle was removed and replaced by a bar that slid through his tongue and made him feel a little uncomfortable. Then the silver ball was twisted into place on top, the clamp removed, and a mirror held up. his gaping mouth was now the frame for a little silver ball sitting on his tongue, like a pearl in an oyster. Despite his previous doubts, his mouth curved into a smile to see it.

He looked cool.

“Wow! My dad is gonna flip!” He grinned.

The piercer chuckled and shook his head, “Boy, don’t tell ‘im it was me that did it!”

“I won’t! Promise!” Adrien grinned wider.

“Get outta here Agreste and watch how you go. I can’t wait to see my work on a billboard,” the piercer called after him as he headed for the door.

Pulling it open the bell jingled again and reminded him of his responsibilities as a hero. His smile faded for a moment. He didn’t care what his father had to say about this little rebellion. He’d probably find a way to twist it to his advantage in a week or so. But Ladybug was more important. Her opinion mattered so much more to him. if she didn’t like this, it was gone. but he really hoped she like it.

“I know that linger. It’s on the paper boy. No kissing for 3 weeks minimum.” The piercer chuckled again, “Nothing more than that for 3 months, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Adrien frowned as he tried to think what he meant, which made the workers crack up, and Plagg fill with second hand embarrassment on his behalf. From his space in Adrien’s pocket, he hissed, “just go!”

Not one to ignore a hiss like that, Adrien waved, “Thanks again,” and left.

Wandering down the street Adrien could feel the dull ache in his mouth and he pushed his fists into his pockets, trying not to look like he was uncomfortable, and keeping his mouth shut to hide the new piercing, in case Ladybug should come past. She wouldn’t know it was him, of course, but still. he didn’t want her to suspect.  
Adrien tucked the paper with the aftercare details into his pocket, and Plagg decided to read it.

There was a tone of suspicion in his voice as he leaned over the brim to say, “This says only eat smoothies, lukewarm soup, noodles, pasta, ice cream, salmon, tuna, salad, soft bread sandwiches, non-acidic fruit, or pizza. Doesn’t pizza sound out of place? I’m not sure about that. don’t eat pizza."

A faint smugness crept into Adrien’s voice. “are you worrying about me Plagg?”

Plagg scowled over the paper. “I can’t let you get infected. It’s bad enough Chat Noir and Adrien will suddenly both have tongue piercings, but if both of you lose the ability to talk-”

“I know, I get it. it’s not like I’d be able to argue back or explain myself to LB,” Adrien sighed.

“Exactly. And if she didn’t kill you, I would,” Plagg warned.

Adrien rolled his eyes. “thanks for the concern Plagg, it was really nice for half a second there!"

“But I can’t be bothered to train up a new Chat Noir yet, so instead, I’ll make sure you don’t get infected. No hot drinks. No sour things. Nothing hard or crumbly. Nothing sticky, and NOTHING spicy. Got it?” Plagg huffed.

Adrien smiled despite himself. “Sir yes sir!”

He wanted to be mad at the kwami for fussing, especially when he slapped the alcoholic mouthwash from his hand and hid his Paracetamol, but he had to admit that it was nice that someone cared enough about him to fuss. By morning the pain had pretty much gone, but the swelling ached. He was smart enough to get it done on a Friday, so he had the weekend to recover. Saturday, he had fencing and piano, which he could hide his tongue in anyway, and then Sunday was for homework and mandarin. Suddenly it was Monday and the swelling was low. He couldn't wait to get to school.   
He hadn't told Nino what he was going to do, because Nino would tell Alya and Alya would have talked him out of it. Now he was going to surprise everyone.

_Everyone_.

Chloe was going to be pissed, and Alya was either going to be mad or supportive or both. Nino was going to think he was crazy but respect why he did it. Marinette was - Marinette was unpredictable. She'd probably stammer through some questions, curious as to why he'd done this, but ultimately just send him sideways glances and quickly look away if he tried to meet them.  
It was Ladybug that actually _worried_ him. He was desperate for her to like it, so desperate for her to like it, that he worried. Tongue poked out at the mirror he wrinkled his nose uncertainly.

"It looks ok right?" He asked Plagg for the tenth time. "I haven’t just made the biggest mistake of my life, right?"

"No, no, this is easily fixable. Your biggest mistake is yet to come. I wonder what it'll be!" Plagg smiled.

"Yeah, me too..." Adrien muttered sarcastically.

"She'll like it Adrien," Plagg insisted.

"Will she?" Adrien asked.

Plagg shrugged. "No idea, but even if she doesn't she won't say so. She'll respect that it’s your choice and your body, so she'll probably not mention it. If she doesn't mention it, she hates it."

Again, Adrien rolled his eyes. "Whoopee."

Plagg rolled his eyes and flitted forward to hover in front of him and force him to meet his eye. "Look, forget about Ladybug for a second, lets focus on Marinette."

Adrien frowned, "Marinette? Why?"

"Marinette and Ladybug seem to have very similar opinions. If Marinette likes it, I'll be willing to bet Ladybug will," Plagg said, firmly.

Adrien frowned deeper. "You think? Marinette? Really?"

Plagg, of course, knew fully well that Ladybug and Marinette were the same person, and their opinions would be identical. It was just one thing he could say that would ease his nerve enough to get to school on time.

"Only one way to find out. Get going already!"

The reactions to the reveal were about what Adrien expected, which lifted him up mostly. Nino's shock made him laugh, as did the way he made Adrien keep his mouth open and tongue out. Alix insisted that she thought it was awesome, and Chloe told the entire room that she was supportive, and it had been her idea in the first place because she knew him so well, but she lowered her voice to inform him his father was never going to let him model again with _that_ in his mouth. Somehow Adrien didn’t seem to care. Then Marinette's laugh echoed down the corridor. At the sound, Adrien snapped upright in surprise. His chest got tight.  
This was it.  
This was the first test.   
Hot and slightly flustered, Adrien yanked off his jacket, so he was wearing nothing but his black shirt with the multicoloured bars. His heart beat a little faster as he caught a glimpse of Alya's orangey hair in the window. Nino elbowed him playfully.

"Someone's trying to impress!" He teased.

Adrien felt his cheeks turn pink and he laughed and muttered for him to shut up. Then Alya and Marinette came wandering in.

"Alya, come look what stupid did!" Nino teased.

"Stupid who?" Alya asked.

Nino pointed at Adrien with a real kind of accusation. Alya grinned as Adrien glared at Nino. She grabbed Marinette's arm, knowing fully well that she would have already frozen up, and dragged her closer to Adrien.

"What'd you do Agreste?! C'mon, spill!" Alya pushed him playfully.

Adrien didn’t realise how embarrassing this would be. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to it. But it had been so long since kids in school followed him around asking for autographs. For a while, he'd settled into being just another kid in the school, but now he'd singled himself out. That wasn’t something he could blame on his father. It was weird, and it was entirely on him. That felt a little awkward and a little embarrassing, but he liked the attention more than he thought he would.

Alya nudged him again, encouragingly, "come _on_ Adrien, you can tell us!"

With one arm scratching the back of his neck, anxiously, and poked his tongue out at Marinette with a wink.

"OH MY GOD!" Alya gasped somewhere between delighted and horrified.

"I know right?!" Nino beamed.

"You idiot!" Alya cackled, "you utter _idiot_! What'd your dad do?"

"He doesn’t know yet, I haven't seen him since,"

"Wow. This is your rebellion huh? I'm so proud," Alya laughed.

Alya and Nino laughed, but Adrien turned his gaze to Marinette. Her cheeks had turned pink when she saw him in that shirt, exposed more than usual, winking - _winking_ at her, with his new stud. She couldn't find her vocal chords anymore. They were just gone.

"Do you like it Marinette?" Adrien asked, hopefully.

Alya turned to Marinette and arched an eyebrow. Her face turned beetroot and her throat filled with sand too fast for her to think of a reaction. Adrien had singled her out! Adrien cared whether or not she liked it and cared enough to ask her _by name._  
Marinette was about ready to pass out.  
Nino and Alya shared a look as Marinette's face seemed to drain of all colour within seconds of realising everyone was waiting for an answer. Adrien's face fell nervously.   
She didn’t like it?  
Ladybug wouldn't like it?  
What had he done?

Marinette stammered and stared at her shoes, trying desperately to think of something to convey and a way to convey it. "I... I th-th-th-think I - I - I think y-y-you - I think y-you - I -"

Alya's hand gently curled around Marinette's and said, softly, "Deep breath Mari, deep breath."

"I think green good y-you eye- eyes."

That’s was enough for her to want the ground to swallow her whole. Alya hid behind her hand as Marinette turned red again and Chloe erupted into cackling laughter like some kind of sea witch. Marinette ran to her seat and dropped onto her desk to bury her face in her arms. Alya laid a hand on Marinette's shoulder and rubbed the space between her shoulder blades to ease her considerable pain.

"That's it. That's it Alya, I'm gonna move to a new school. It’s all over. Nice knowing you, I'll miss you," Marinette said, into the table.

Adrien looked hurt that she didn’t seem to like his new piercing. Alya tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, and opened his mouth to speak, but Alya pressed a finger to his lips. Hurt, but interested enough to be distracted, Adrien allowed her to hush him.

"What did you _mean_ to tell him?" Alya asked, quietly.

"I wanted to tell him that he should have gotten it in green, because the green would bring out his eyes... _why does he have to be so cute Alya_?!" Marinette whined.

Alya glanced over at Adrien. Adrien straightened up in surprise, his eyes were wide and focused on her head buried in her arms. After the surprise faded, an affectionate smile crept across his face. He opened his mouth to talk again, but Alya shook her head. She made him turn back to face the front, so he wouldn't embarrass Marinette any further. He begrudgingly agreed, but the smile that warmed his face as he settled back into the seat filled Nino with warmth too. Nino assumed he was finally realising that he liked Marinette, but he wasn't.   
He was thinking of Ladybug.   
If his princess liked his piercing, his lady would love it.


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette was feeling like a magpie. One glimpse of the silver ball in Adrien's mouth and she had fallen head over heels _again_. She couldn't get that image out of her mind all day. She couldn't even look at Adrien for the rest of the week. Every time he looked her way she could feel it. She could feel his gaze when Chloe picked on her, and when she was joking with Mylene and Ivan. When she was talking to Nino and he came over she instantly turned pink. She was avoiding him. Avoiding the hell out of him.  
All because of that goddamn piercing!  
How could he floor her so easily? How could she be such a magpie? One shiny thing and she fell in love again? How pathetic was she?  
Chat Noir landed on the edge of the rooftop where his lady was waiting for him. Ladybug was staring out over the city like her head was too high in the clouds to pay attention to what was going on around her.  
He couldn't resist.  
Chat snuck up behind her, unnoticed, silent and ninja like. He walked his claws up her back, gently, even though he knew it wouldn’t hurt her through the fabric. Then he covered her eyes, over her mask, with his hands. Ladybug gasped. She latched onto his wrists, ready to twist his arm back and flip him over, when she heard the familiar velvety purr.

"Guess who bugaboo."

Oh God. The relief that it was just Chat Noir, and that it meant she was safe, flooded through her with a sensation that made her belly tingle. His arms wrapped around her, and his voice soft in her ear, his body pressed against her back - Ladybug leapt out of his hold as quickly as she could. These feelings kept creeping up on her recently. They always started when Chat appeared while she was thinking of Adrien. Something about him, his voice, his gaze, his... something... it made her thoughts of Adrien merge into thoughts of Chat.  
It was slow at first. In her mind Adrien kept making bad puns, but he laughed at his own jokes unlike Chat. But he laughed like Chat did. Like Chat was laughing now.  
How could a laugh be so intoxica- what was that? All thoughts of Adrien slipped away, with all feelings and sensations she didn’t want to think about, at the sight of something small and silver in Chat's mouth.  
Chat was minding his own business laughing loudly at how he made her jump, when Ladybug grabbed his tongue and pulled it out to see his piercing. Chat jolted forward, his laughter cutting off and his cheeks filling with rouge.

Ladybug's eyes widened at the silver ball in his tongue. Her wide blue eyes stared into his shocked greens. "YOU TOO?!"

Chat went cross eyed as he tried to focus on her fingers holding his tongue uncomfortably similarly to the clamp. "Meh laydee... I ned thfat bwack."

Ladybug suddenly saw the graceless bend that Chat was stooping to, for he had to stoop to reach her level. Her cheeks under her mask flushed pink. She let go of his tongue sheepishly, wiping her hand on the back of her shirt as she stepped away from him.

"Sorry..."

Chat smacked his lips trying to rid himself of the uncomfortable sensation. He flashed her a slightly awkward smile as she looked away from him, just as awkwardly.

"You taste quite nice," he joked.

"Chat!" She groaned.

Now things were feelings slightly more comfortable he grinned wider, "You do!"

She scoffed and shook her head, but smiled at how easily they moved on, back to being themselves. Ladybug wished that she and Adrien could be like this. Have the awkwardness and move on briskly. God, she wanted to be like this with him.

"Do you..." Chat shifted nervously, unable to keep her gaze, "do you like it, bugaboo?"

"Let me see again," she asked.

Chat felt a little childish to poke his tongue out at Ladybug, but she tilted her head at it, and smiled, which eased the tension in his chest.

"You like it?" He asked, happily.

"If I were you, and I was going to get my tongue pierced, I'd go for gold. Then it'd match your bell. Or black, to match your uniform. No. Green to match your uniform. Then it'd match your eyes too," Ladybug smiled.

Absent-mindedly she reached up to rush her hand through his hair and tuck his fringe out of his eyes. Chat bit back a purr as her fingers brushed against his skin.

"Green, huh?" He smiled as he thought back to Marinette. "I've heard that before. Do you like it though Ladybug? Do you think it's unprofessional for a hero? It's just that-"

"No, no, I don’t. If I thought piercings were unprofessional for a hero, I'd be pretty stuffed given my miraculous, right?" She smiled.

His face fell into an o shape as he realised the truth in her point. "Right. I didn't think of it that way."

"Did it... did it hurt?" She asked, curiously.

Chat saw a chance to show off, and he took it with both paws. He leaned on his baton, and gave her his best smirk, purring flirtatiously to brag, "yeah. Real bad too."

Ladybug folded her arms and shifted her weight onto one leg, ready to wipe that smirk off his face. "Did you cry?"

Chat choked, "Cry?! Me?! Oh, my dear lady, I do hope you have more faith in me than that! I'm far too tough to cry!"

She sneered. "You did, didn't you?"

"Like Niagara Falls!" Plagg said.

"Shut up Plagg!" Adrien hissed.

Ladybug laughed brightly, a twinkling sound that made Chat's chest ache with affection. "I knew it."

Chat protested but it was useless. She wasn’t going to believe him, so she wasn’t going to listen.

"why’d you do it if it hurt so bad? She asked.

Chat shrugged. "I was feeling rebellious, and its sexy right?"

He got in close again, so there was only an inch or so between them, giving her a knowing grin. She scoffed, her cheeks flushing to betray the truth, and turned away.

"Yeah whatever..."

Wasn’t it though? Ladybug didn't think she'd like a bad boy. She didn't think she'd care more about some rebel just because they were aesthetically pleasing.  
She really did though.  
She hated that part of her, the magpie part telling her to go for the shiny thing, but it was there.  
In Chat's mouth.  
Shining...

What would it be like to kiss someone with one of those things? Surely they would taste metallic and be cold and uncomfortable. Maybe it would hurt him when the pull of their tongues-

"Ladybug?" Chat's voice pulled her from her thoughts and she realised he had gone red. "Not that I mind, but, um, you're staring..."

"I'm thinking," Ladybug corrected.

"Thinking what?" He asked.

"I'm thinking..." she considered telling him she was thinking about what it would be like to kiss someone with a tongue ring, but then he'd offer her the chance to find out, and she'd either have to turn him down and see the unsurprised disappointment or call his bluff and kiss him. But the idea of kissing him, even calling a bluff, was becoming more appealing as her mind tricked her into thinking of him and Adrien at the same time. She feared that. "it doesn’t matter."

Chat whined. "No, come on, tell me."

Her safest option was to change the subject. "Um, if you were being rebellious why didn’t you just put streaks in your hair, like normal rebellious kids? My friend Juleka and her brother Luka have purple streaks in their hair, and she's super pretty and he's..."

Maybe it was the way she trailed off, or just the tone in her voice, but something about her reaction filled Chat with a strange burning streak in his stomach.

" _He's_?" Chat asked, trying not to sound as venomous as he felt.

Ladybug shrugged, innocently, "He's attractive... if you like that drop dead gorgeous, rebellious, artistic and sensitive, kind, caring, handsome bad boy kinda thing y’know?"

Chat's burning streak worsened. "Right. Sure. You like bad boys huh?"

Ladybug bit her lip, thinking of Adrien's new bad boy appearance. "Is it bad for a hero to like bad boys?"

"Probably."

"Oh."

The disappointment in her tone ached in Chat's chest. She liked some bad boy? His lady? His hero?! She liked some idiot with purple hair and a spray can?!

"You like him then? Why? Because he’s rebellious and sensitive? Hello, I have a piercing, and I cried getting it!" He snipped.

Ladybug poked him playfully in the ribs. "Thought you said you were too tough for that."

"I am tough!" Chat barked. "Tough and rebellious and sensitive. I'm way better than _Luka_."

Ladybug lit up at how he sneered at his name. A new kind of zeal purred in her own tone. "Are you jealous kitty?"

His pointed ears perked up in protest, but the catch in his throat betrayed him. "No!"

She giggled, which made him feel better and worse at the same time. Her hand brushed against his, "I don't like Luka like that. He's handsome and kind and smart and rebellious-"

Chat rolled his eyes. "What's your point?"

"He's all those things and more, but I like..." she glanced at a billboard across the street that held an advert for Gabriel’s, featuring a certain green-eyed boy, still free from piercings at the time. "someone a little closer to me instead."

Chat's ears flickered. He smiled to himself, and then leaned forward, closer to her again, purring, "Really? Anyone I know?"

Ladybug shrugged. Her tone didn’t coo to match his, mostly because she missed it, "You've probably heard of him. It’s kinda stupid. He's pretty famous, and so handsome that every girl in the city has a crush on him. I guess I wasn't lucky enough to escape his magic."

He chuckled, knowingly. "And I thought I was the unlucky one."

Ladybug picked up on the smirk and smirked back. She dropped her voice to match his, and poked his bell, teasingly. "You are, tinker bell, because I've got a plan."

"Oh? Purrlease, do tell," he purred.

"Man it's a shame injuring your tongue didn’t shut you up though. I guess I'll just have to accept I'm never going to be free of your puns," she chuckled.

"It’s part of the reason you love me," he smiled.

Ladybug glanced down at his tongue when he smiled, and she tilted her head again, dropping the charade. "Do you know what’s odd?"

"What?" he purred.

"He just got a tongue piercing too. Only it looks better on him," she said.

He gasped. "How dare you? I'm the prettiest kitty in the city."

She chuckled and watched as his piercing got too close to his teeth as he laughed. He wouldn't be the prettiest kitty with half a tooth missing. And it'd be bluntly obvious who he was as a civilian. It was whatever idiot had green eyes, blonde hair, a tongue piercing and a missing tooth. He was handsome enough already. He didn't need the extra baubles.

"You should lose the piercing chat."

His face fell and he looked more surprised than hurt, but there was definitely hurt there too. "What? Why? You said I look good!"

"It's not safe. What if you get hit in the jaw and it rips the thingy out and you choke - lose the thingy Chat," she said, gently.

"Alright," he sighed, glumly, "If you really hate it so much, I'll get rid of it."

"It's not that I hate it, I just..." She blinked as he widened his puppy dog eyes into sad kitten eyes, knowing fully well she hated when he did that. "Oh kitty, please don't do the sad cat eyes, I can't resist the sad cat eyes... I like it! I do! I love it! Its - its -"

" _its_?"

"It's rugged," she said. He smiled. Then she added, "Like Luka."

Oh! Built up just to be dragged straight back down... At least he knew she liked it. Her hand reached out to cup his cheek, hesitated, and pulls away without touching. She balled her hand into a fist by her side.

"It's just not safe kitty. I don't wanna see you hurt! Oh... oh fine! Keep it! Just don't look at me like that! It makes me feel weird!"

she urged.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Good weird?"

Her cheeks turned pink as she stammered and then ended up yelling, "Shut up dork!"

Without thinking, she punched his arm and ran away. She hadn't even hit her pillows when Tikki transformed back to yell at her.

"What was that?!"

“I panicked! My hearts racing, I feel dizzy, my palms are sweaty! What's going on Tikki?!” Marinette begged.

“Don't you spend enough time with Adrien to know this by now?” Tikki asked.

“I _can't_ be attracted to _chat_ Tikki!” Marinette insisted, desperately.

“I think it's too late for that. You're blushing again,” Tikki explained, gently.

“Oh no...” Marinette buried her bright red face into her pillows, desperately ready to tear herself apart. Tikki patted her head gently.

Meanwhile Adrien was walking on air, “She likes it Plagg. She likes me!”

“I'm ecstatic for you,” Plagg said, in a monotone voice, “Can we go home now?”

“Yeah we can,” Adrien scratched Plagg’s ear affectionately, before sighing dreamily, “She _likes_ me!”

Plagg groaned. “Oh God.”


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien whined softly as Marinette ran away from him for the sixth time that morning. It was over a week since he’d last spoken to her, to ask about her thoughts on his new – you were there you know. But she had been avoiding him since. Even at fencing (which she had only recently started going to for practice lessons) she asked to be paired with someone else. That would have been fine, Adrien liked teaching people who didn’t know what they were doing, but every now and then he’d glance over at Marinette. She had clearly been practicing what he taught her, and she was performing the lunges and parries he showed her with near perfection, but she needed to work on her footing and it was distracting him. whenever he tried to broach the subject with her, he got to “Marinette” before she hid her face and ran away.

“She hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you!”

“she does!” Adrien argued, adamantly, “If she didn’t hate me, she’d talk to me! She wouldn’t run away whenever I was around! She never talked to me before, and now she wont even look at me. If that’s not hate, what is it?”

“Oh kid you have no idea,” Plagg sighed.

Adrien wasn’t listening. “I don’t get it, Ladybug likes it, and she said she liked it because it made me look cute!”

“Alya told you not to bring that up. you’ll get her into trouble,” Plagg warned.

He wasn’t so afraid of Marinette, even though she probably could kick his arse, she probably would try. Alya though, Alya was the kind of girl who would try, fail, learn what to do, and come back to win. Yeah, Plagg was a little afraid of Alya. he certainly didn’t want her to have a grudge against Adrien. if anyone in that class was going to go full black-ops, rolling through the bedroom window like a ninja, to gather info on Adrien, accidentally find Plagg, use him as black mail – you get the picture.  
Plus if he upset Alya, Marinette wouldn’t forgive him, and he’d just make things worse for himself by making them mad at each other. Everyone knows when girls are best friends, they’re stronger than ever after a fight. Nino’d be no help. He couldn’t fight Alya if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to.

Alya wasn’t someone to get on the bad side of.

“But I wanna know why she can’t stand to be in the same room as me!” Adrien whined.

“kid. Stop beating yourself up. whatever this is, it’s Marinette, not you. If she doesn’t wanna talk, you can’t make her. but Marinette’s not stupid or blind – well she's not stupid. She can see that you’re kind and compassionate and smart and friendly. Isn’t it you that inspired her to learn fencing?”

Adrien nodded, but he was ready to whine again, “so she said but that was before-”

“So she’ll come back to you. she’ll realise sooner or later that something is stopping her effectiveness, and she’ll come to _you_ someone she can trust, to help show her how to fix it,” Plagg said, pointedly.

Adrien tilted his head uncertainly, but hopefully. “you think?”

“I hope so because I can’t stand you love struck over one girl and pining for another,” Plagg scoffed.

Adrien choked, “I AM NOT! I – I am not _pining_!”

“what would you call it?” Plagg asked, patiently.

Adrien opened his mouth to argue, but he couldn’t think of a way to explain himself that didn’t sound like he was just avoiding saying that he was pining. “Shut up Plagg.”

“Pining it is,” Plagg smirked.

Adrien rolled his eyes and sunk gloomily into his seat. When Nino asked what was up, he shrugged it off, saying he was tired. He wasn’t about to admit he was pining for the girl behind him because she was avoiding him. that sounded pathetic.

“Groups of four please, joining the tables behind you!”

Adrien was so quick to breath a sigh of relief that he’d successfully avoided teaming with Chloe that he’d forgotten who was sitting behind him. when he turned to smile at Marinette, her cheeks were already turning pink, and she stared down at the table top. Alya whispered something to her, but she shook her head. Adrien wondered what it was.

When Marinette felt his knee knock against hers she wished she’d taken Alya up on that offer to swap seats. Marinette was lucky to have Alya. she was yet to figure out how to explain to her best friend that she was so head over heels for Adrien that she wanted to kiss him every time she looked at him, but whenever she saw the tongue piercing, or thought about running her hands through his hair, she imagined Chat Noir in his place. her hand found cat ears, and her teeth were knocked by the piercing, which was met with a pun.   
she felt her blush deepen.   
Adrien was everything.  
so why was Chat in her head?

“They’re idiots,” Plagg declared.

“They’re young,” Tikki said, soothingly.

“same difference,” Plagg grumbled.

Tikki giggled and settled down to sit on the floor again. she broke a cookie in half, hand handed half to Plagg. He took it, gratefully. It was rare for Plagg and Tikki to get time to rest at the same time, rarer for them to be together when it happened. Marinette joining the fencing team was easily the best thing that could have happened to them since it gave them time together. Although Adrien didn't fully buy the idea that Plagg suddenly wanted to see how well he could fence, he appreciated the support nonetheless.   
Although now they had that time to hang out, they wanted more. Which was why they risked being caught out to hide in the shadows of the stairs in the classroom while their charges were busy pretending to work.

“Mari?” Adrien asked. She didn’t respond. “Mari?” she still didn’t respond. He reached out to touch her, hesitated, and pulled his hand back to lay it on the desk. “Alya?”

Alya ignored him, to elbow Marinette instead. She said, quietly, harshly, “Mari? Adrien is talking to you. Don’t be rude just because- “

Marinette snapped upright to cut her off. “What’s wrong Adrien?”

"You’re, um, you're hurting my toes," he said.

Marinette suddenly realised that her foot was on top of his, slightly crushing it, and he was trying to politely ask her to move, but she wouldn't listen. Now she moved away sheepishly.

"Oh. sorry."

Adrien's face fell slowly. Marinette was shy and blushed and stammered, which he was used to by now. It was endearing even. Whenever she got angry enough she was ready to fight. He'd seen her leave Chloe high and dry several times. Marinette and Chloe's fights were iconic. Worse when Alya was involved. If Chloe picked on Marinette she didn't care. She'd put her down after five minutes or so if she could be bothered. When she was picking on Alya or Nino, she'd tear Chloe apart immediately. If she picked on Rose - well she learned not to pick on Rose. She would tease and joke with Chat Noir, but right now she couldn't even look at Adrien.

But why not?

What had he done?

He just had to know. Adrien edged a little closer to her. "Mari... Mari can we talk later? Like, after school?"

"I'm..." she glanced up, and got to his mouth, and then immediately looked away when Chat Noir flashed into her mind. "I'm working."

"Working?" He repeated.

"In the b-bakery," she lied.

"I want to talk to you Mari. I want to know why you won’t talk to me anymore," he insisted.

Marinette shook her head, "It's not that - I just mean - I think -"

She looked up enough to meet his eye and saw Chat Noir in the depths of green in them. Her chest ached with guilt. She had to look away. Adrien reached across the table to touch her hand. Marinette's gaze instantly snapped onto the touch. If she had laser eyes he'd have no hand. Not that he'd notice. While her mind was screaming about the touch, he was focused on her face.

"What'd I do Marinette? What did I do and how can I fix it?" He asked, desperately.

Marinette made a sound like a desert wind blowing through a skull. Alya couldn’t let her suffer like this. She leaned over the table, pushing Adrien's hand away from Marinette's, and pointed at nothing.

"Adrien pass me that please," she asked.

Adrien glanced from Marinette to Alya uncomfortably. "What Alya?"

"Errrrr-" Alya scanned the room for something, anything that she could make Adrien go get. She spotted an abandoned yellow felt tip on the floor, and pointed at that, "That felt tip, pass me the felt tip."

Adrien leaned over for it and gave it to her. Alya took off the lid, scribbled, put the lid back on, and threw it across the room.

"Don’t that one. Get me Nathanael’s," Alya said, urgently.

Adrien looked baffled and glanced back towards Nathanael, who was doing work instead of drawing with felt tips. While he was looking away, Nino gave her a suspicious look that she batted away with a huff.

"Yeah, can you get me, um, yellow and, um, and green? Yellow and green like that hero people keep saying they've seen - what’s his name Nino?" Alya couldn't reach him to hit him so hit the air around him.

Nino didn’t have to think before answering, "Carapace."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm totally gonna draw Carapace fo-o-or my blog! So go get me felt tips," Alya insisted.

Adrien gave her a baffled, frustrated look, and glanced to Marinette hoping for support. Marinette focused entirely on Alya. Her hero.

"Excuse me?" Adrien asked uncertainly.

"Sorry, will you get me Nath's if you can, please?" Alya asked, politely.

Adrien glanced back at Marinette, "I wanted to-"

"Just go dude, it'll safe time," Nino sighed.

Adrien stood still, glancing between the three of them, trying to think of a way to explain that he didn’t want to go to Nathanael because he wanted to talk to Marinette, but there was no use arguing with Alya.  
She always won.  
As he slunk away, Marinette released every pent-up breath she'd been holding in while he sat so very close to her. She shrank to half her size as the air pressure released.

"Thank you. I can’t stop thinking about what'd be like to kiss him with that in his mouth. It's super hard to breathe!"

Alya sat back in her chair with a huff, "You’re gonna have to tell him soon."

"I can’t! He's so proud of it, and I can't tell him it makes me uncomfortable how _attractive_ he is! Can't you hear how crazy that is?!" Marinette whined.

"You've got to tell him," Nino insisted.

"Why?!" Marinette whined.

"Because one day he will ask you why you’re avoiding him, and we won't be there to defend you, and you'll forget to breath, so you'll pass out and die," Nino said, pointedly.

"And I can’t keep throwing pens at Chloe, no matter how good it feels," Alya muttered.

"I knew she was aiming at me," Chloe grumbled.

"Adrien deserves to know," Nino said.

Alya shook her head. "Forget Adrien, _you_ deserve to know. I don’t know who were texting me about, but if you're torn between Adrien and this guy, you gotta find out if there’s any chance of you and Adrien getting together. That way if there isn’t then you can move onto this other guy."

Plagg rolled his eyes. It was like listening to Adrien fuss about Ladybug, but worse. Knowing and being able to see all four sides of the square was like hell now. Before, when it was still a novelty, it was funny. Now it was tragic. They _loved_ each other. _painfully_. And they sat beside each other every day, and they still couldn't _see_ it.   
The frustration was unbearable.   
Somebody had to tell them.  
Or at least get them to see for themselves.

"How do I tell him?" Marinette sighed.

"Like this," Nino cleared his throat and out on a fake voice. "Hey, Adrien, you know that piercing, the one that makes you look like a bad boy? It makes you look so damn good that just looking at you makes me wanna do the nasty and-"

" _NINO_!"

The squeal only made it two rows back, but Adrien happened to look their way as it happened, so Marinette groaned and hid her face behind her hands. Alya turned to look at Adrien, thoughtfully.

"I don't think he can do that yet. Surely there's a healing time frame that he hasn’t reached yet. How long before he'd be able to-"

Adrien slammed the pens on the table a little harder than he necessarily needed it to. "Here."

Alya winked, "Thanks handsome."

Adrien's sudden surprise made his jaw drop and gave Marinette time to ease back into her seat and take a deep breath to prepare herself for Adrien to talk.

But Alya had other ideas.

"Hey!" Nino laughed.

"You’re handsome too, but Adrien was damn fine before and now, with that, he's just so damn kissable," Alya said, pointedly.

Marinette looked up to see Alya bearing down on her, pointedly. Marinette's cheeks turned pink as Adrien's knees knocked against hers again.

"No kissing for three weeks. I've got another two to go," he explained, sitting down. Without really thinking about it, probably because he wasn't entirely sure what it meant, he added, "nothing more for three months."

Nino and Alya froze up. The laughter reached their faces but never made a sound. They were ready to giggle, but they were stealing at her. Marinette snapped. Poor little magpie could bare that. With a face that could outshine Rudolph’s nose, Marinette reached down to grab her kwami and ran out of the door.  
At least she thought she had.  
You’d think getting back to the right person would have been easy for a kwami. Especially since their charges were so eager to leave. But being a little sleepy and reluctant to leave one another, they weren't fully paying attention to who's hand was curling around them, and by the time they realised it was too late.

It was the soft way that the hand trying to pick him up that alerted Plagg to the fact this was not Adrien trying to lift him up. Adrien knew Plagg didn’t like being picked up like he was some toy. That’s why he always tried to wriggle out of everyone’s grip. But this wasn't his hold. This was someone scooping a kitten up by the belly, being gentle and letting the kitten climb into their palm.   
This wasn't Adrien.  
This was Marinette.   
This could be dangerous.   
This was going to be fun.


	4. Chapter 4

Plagg sank lower into Tikki's bag, chuckling mischievously to himself, and made a grab for Tikki's pile of cookies. Marinette trusted her not to eat until he threw up. Plagg wished Adrien would trust him like that, but there was a reason he didn't.

Kwami sick gets everywhere.

"You've been really quiet today Tikki, is everything alright?" Marinette asked when they were finally alone.

"Oh, Tikki's absolutely fine," Plagg said. He peered his head out of the bag to flash a grin at the wide-eyed mask free girl, "She's with Chat Noir."

Marinette's eyes bulged and her throat dried up like the Sahara had been poured down it. Plagg slipped out of the bag and perched on the desk to wait for her to reboot.

"K-k-kwa-kwami? Where's Tikki?!"

"Pah, Tikki? Tikki's nothing like me!" Plagg scoffed, hitting the air with his paw as he did.

Marinette scowled. Instantly she felt a primal urge to defend her kwami, and slammed her palm flat against the desk, dangerously close to him. "Where. Is. Tikki?"

"With Chat Noir. Deactivated Chat Noir," Plagg said, pointedly.

Marinette wasn’t entirely able to figure out how to talk without another question getting in the way when she opened her mouth, "But I didn’t - we never - h-how?! How do I get her back?! How?!"

"You meet up with Chat and swap. Duh," Plagg shrugged.

"How do I do that without finding out who he is?" She asked.

"You don’t," he said.

"He can’t find out who I am! It’s not safe!" She argued.

Plagg yawned, stretching his mouth as wide as he possibly could, to prove to her how boring this conversation was to him. Marinette's words trailed away from her for another reason. Plagg had two tiny but deadly sharp fangs that glinted as he yawned. Tikki didn't have teeth. Her pink gums were hard enough to munch her cookies, she didn't need teeth. Wayzz didn’t have teeth either. The little turtle ate lettuce he could mash with his beak, and dried kale that melted on his tongue.

WAIT!  
THAT'S IT!  
NINO!

"I'm going to call Nino-"

Plagg gasped. He couldn't go back to Adrien yet. He'd barely started! Plagg shot forward and grabbed the phone from her hand. "Wait! You can’t!"

Marinette's now free hand waited on her waist. "Why not?"

"Because... he's with Adrien! He can't tell Adrien anything right? How will he tell Adrien he's gotta go if he can't tell him why?" Plagg insisted.

"He's Nino, he's not stupid, he'll think of something," Marinette argued.

"Is that fair to Adrien? He never gets to spend much time with his friends, do you really want to cut it off early?" Plagg said, pointedly.

His voice was hard and challenging, and made her pull her arm back uncertainly. She didn’t want Adrien to miss out just because she couldn't pay attention to who she was picking up. Although how and when she had ended up with Plagg she wasn’t entirely sure. But that didn’t mean Adrien had to suffer.

"Maybe I can wait an hour or two... it's not like Tikki'll tell him anything. She’s the one that said I can't tell him in the first place," she shrugged uncertainly.

"Heh, yeah," Plagg smirked, "besides, we don't want to upset Adrien, right?"

Marinette's cheeks turned pink, "I don't know what you mean."

Plagg gave her an unimpressed look. "Tikki told me. And even if Tikki hadn't, I can see it for myself. Everyone in the class can see you're in love with Adrien, except Adrien!"

Marinette's cheeks flushed deeper and she bit her bottom lip. If Plagg knew anyway, maybe he could supply a fresh perspective. The whine just sorta slipped out. "I wanna ask him out so bad."

Plagg shrugged like that was abundantly easy. "Then just do it."

"But what if he says no?" Marinette sighed.

“you stole his phone once, what problem is calling him on it?!” Plagg scoffed.

Marinette’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped, before she realised who probably snitched on her. “you and Tikki aren’t allowed to talk anymore.”

Plagg smirked. "Ah you're too chicken to do it anyway."

Marinette frowned. No one had called her chicken since she was five. "What?"

“you’re won’t call him. you’re a chicken,” Plagg smirked.

 “No I’m not,” A faint laugh underlined her words at how ridiculous this argument was. she was arguing with a billion-year-old God with the power of ultimate destruction, and he was calling her an insult she hadn’t heard since she was a child.

"You're chicken."

“I’m not.”

“trust me, I know chickens. I am the cat among the chickens, and you’re a chicken!”

“It’s cat among the _pigeons_ , and I’m not!”

Plagg smirked. this was working. A childish insult humans used – and an inaccurate one as anyone who ever met an angry chicken would tell you – and it was working. She frowned deeper, protesting harder.

"No I'm not!"

"Cock o doodle doo!" Plagg mocked wings instead of arms. 

"I'm no chicken!" Marinette raised her voice, and then bit her lip, glancing at the door in case her parents had heard her.

Plagg sat properly on the desk again and smirked up at her. "Prove it."

Scowling in frustration at the annoying little kwami, Marinette felt a need to prove him wrong. Her hand found her phone in her back pocket and hit speed dial 3. Adrien.

_"fine! I will!"_

Plagg sat back, feeling a little smug at how easily he could manipulate both Chat and Ladybug into finally opening their eyes and seeing one another. He prided himself on his skills of irritation sometimes. Destruction was all well and good, but annoying got the job done.

"Hi, Adrien, listen, I'm not a chicken. I'm not!” she scowled at Plagg, pointedly, who’s grin widened, “So do you wanna go out together sometime, to go see a movie or something? Just the two of us?”

There was a long pause that made Plagg shuffle in his seat. Tikki was dealing with him. he couldn’t be sure his idiot boy would say yes. If he knew it was a date, he would never agree. He’d never betray Ladybug like that. not even with Ladybug. That could have knocked Marinette back. she could have really been hurt. Because he was dumb enough to push her into it, just to prove he was a good little match maker. Plagg bit his lip.  
if this went wrong, Tikki was going to kill him.  
Tikki was already going to kill him.  
This could not go wrong.

"Perfect, we can walk there after school, I'll see you then!"

Plagg clutched his chest and heaved a sigh of relief. It worked. Tikki wasn’t going to kill him. Today. Probably. Hopefully. For this.

Marinette threw her phone down onto the desk and grinned at Plagg, smugly. "There! See! HA!"

"Yep. You really showed me. You've got a date with Adrien after school on Friday. Burn on me,” Plagg sniggered.

Marinette’s smug smirk withered. "Oh. Oh I see what just happened. Very sneaky."

She turned away from him so Plagg mouthed, "Three... two... one..."

"OH MY GOD I HAVE A DATE WITH ADRIEN ON FRIDAY! THAT'S TWO DAYS AWAY! THERE'S NO TIME TO PLAN! PLAGG WHAT THE HELL DO I DO?!"

Plagg chuckled to himself. Marinette ran like clockwork. He knew that in an hour from now, when he had finished exploring her room, Marinette would end up sprawled across her chair, desk, sofa, bed, whatever, burying her head in her hands and crying that she'd have to call it off. Tikki told him as much. And right on cue, she did.

Plagg swept over to where Marinette had buried her face in her arms. He tilted his head at her, in amused confusion. She had stopped squealing now, but she still wasn't looking up. Girls were strange, he thought. They reacted to things strangely. Especially good things. She was acting like this was a nightmare.

Plagg patted the back of her head gently. "Do you have any cheese?"

Marinette frowned. She raised her head, just enough that her eyes were above her arms, even if the rest of her wasn't. Plagg frowned. He waited for her to move and react in some way. Marinette groaned and dropped her head back into her arms. when she didn't move, Plagg wriggled his head against her forehead, trying to force his way between her head and arm. he ended up in the gap between her nose and the desk, which was far too hot a place to be what with her breath and blushes. He wanted out and fast, but there was something he had to do first.

"Alright Marinette! Enough is enough! Things are going to change around here, and the first thing is you're going to sit up, be quiet, and listen to me."

Marinette was not used to being taken to so directly. Tikki was always a gentle guide for her. Plagg was acting more like Alya. A little kitten shaped Alya. That made her smirk. She was interested to see how similar this kwami was to her best friend so she sat up like he asked.  
He smirked, and she wondered if she should have taken Chat’s miraculous to her instead of Trixx.  
No.  
That was mean to all four of them.  
But it was weird how similar they were…

Plagg looked like a little professor about to give a lecture as he paced back and forth across the desk. “You love Adrien. Adrien loves Ladybug. you _are_ Ladybug! ergo, he loves you!”

Marinette frowned deeply. “he loves me? He loves Ladybug?!”

“you’re ladybug! he loves you!” Plagg insisted.

“but I’m not ladybug! and I can’t become ladybug right now so – What happens if there's an akuma attack and I don't have Tikki?" Marinette asked, fearfully.

"you can't become Ladybug, so I don't know. People watch the city get destroyed? On the bright side, if they get the miraculous they won't have me or Tikki too. They'd have the wrong cat," Plagg frowned, "the wrong bug? Eh, the wrong Kwami!"

“that’s not funny Plagg! I need to take you to Nino to get you back to Chat,” Marinette leapt to her feet.

“NO!" Plagg shot up to grab both of her cheeks and squish them together to focus entirely on him. "with or without Tikki you are Ladybug. Adrien likes her, so-”

“Adrien likes the hero he hears about on the news. That’s not me. I’m Marinette! I’m not on the news, I’m not brave and bold – I can’t even talk to him without stammering, right now, I can’t even think of him without thinking of Cha-a-a-a- no one.”

Marinette quickly looked away, feeling her cheeks burn as the kwami raised an eyebrow at her. “You think of Chat when you think of Adrien?”

Marinette groaned inwardly as she corrected, “Tikki thinks I like Chat."

“Do you?”

Plagg offered the question like it was a yes or no question. Marinette didn’t have a yes or no answer.

“I wanna be with Adrien.”

“Right, yeah, sure, you wanna be with the boy from the magazine and the posters – the ones over your walls – even though you can’t talk to him or listen to him complain about what he doesn’t like,” Plagg scoffed.

“it’s not like that Plagg!” Marinette groaned.

“you think Adrien liking Ladybug is bad because Ladybug isn’t you, but you liking a billboard is just as bad because that’s not Adrien.”

Plagg’s voice was hard and harsh, but his firm glare was enough to make her hang her head in shame. She didn’t want Adrien to love Ladybug because that wasn’t her. But what if the billboard boy wasn’t Adrien? What if they were in the same boat heading in opposite directions?

“What’d I do Plagg? I don’t even know who Chat is. How can I be in love with him?” she sighed.

Plagg pushed her shoulder. “Chat loves you. Ladybug you.”

“So someone I don’t know loves me, but I like someone I don’t know, who doesn’t like be because he likes someone he doesn’t know? I hate my life,” she dropped her head on the desk again.

“Sure it sounds bad if you put it like that! listen to yourself Marinette! The answer is in the problem,” Plagg said, as if it were abundantly clear.

“How?”

“Don’t be a chicken! Get to know him. then it won’t matter who’s behind the mask because you’ll know the man inside."

“Plagg that makes no sense,” she sighed.

He folded his arms. "Think about it.”

Plagg had been about to take a bite of a cookie he had left over from Tikki’s bag. It paused on his mouth. he thought for a while, debating whether to tell her that his antenna were twitching. Then he realised that if he didn't, Tikki would find out, and would probably get annoyed at him. he couldn't bare that again. especially since she was going to be super mad at him for not letting Marinette go to Nino.

“You’ve got a call coming through,” he warned.

“How, I thought you could only pick up signals from miraculous mobiles?” she frowned.

“I can,” he said.

“then how – oh. Oh! He… oh. is there any chance… can you… could you transform me too?" she asked, a little panicked.

"Me and Tikki have never tried before, but a couple other kwamis did. Hundreds of years ago, though," He admitted.

"What happened? Did it work?" she asked, hopefully.

"Um, sort of. They changed, but they swapped powers," he explained.

"but what would happen to you and Tikki? You wouldn't have the right miraculous," She asked.

"Technically it would be fine, but it would drain us a lot faster. As soon as you used the cataclysm, you'd have about thirty seconds before you changed, and I would be far weaker than I ever have been before," he explained.

"I don't want to risk hurting you. You're too important," she said, anxiously.

"Come on Kitty, Ladybug’s on the phone. Answer. You don’t wanna be a chicken do you?!" he grinned.

Marinette bit her lip nervously. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Just say claws out," Plagg grinned.

Adrien was wrapped up in a bright red skin-tight suit, absolutely covered in deep black circles in different sizes across him. Like on her outfit, she had a black collar, but he was given solid black patches across his elbows thighs and armpits too. Red streaks appeared in his hair, thin and hidden by the depths of the mess. the yo-yo had sat on his hip, unfazed by the new owner, and was now open in his palm. The ring on his finger had have bright red spots on it, instead of the paw print, which made Marinette grin back at him. He flashed her a grin that was 100% Chat Noir, despite the colour.

"I'm seeing spots!" She teased. At the exact same moment Adrien said, "You look like the bell of the ball." Which made Marinette roll her eyes and counter with, "I should have spotted that pun coming."

Both puns slipped out so easily that it took a moment for her hand to fly to her mouth and catch her gasp on her fingertips.

Adrien’s eyes glittered with delight. "Was that a pun?!"

"I think Chat got my tongue," she said.

Adrien's eyes widened with joy, "Again?! Oh my lady blesses me well today."

Her face flushed as she tried desperately not to pun, "I guess I'm not feline myself - oh my God!"

"My lady I've never been this happy in all my nine lives," Adrien beamed.

"This is making me un-cat-fur-bell - PLAGG WHY AM I MAKING PUNS?!" Marinette squealed.

"What, you thought he came up with them? Purr-lease, I am the puns thank mew!" Plagg even sounded smug about it.

Marinette must have rolled her eyes because Adrien asked, "What'd he say?"

"He said you spin tall tails about where the puns come furom," She said, deciding to just go with it.

The bad puns made him smile and she didn’t seem to be able to stop, so she figured there was no point in trying.

"He's not wrong. I was nothing before I became Chat Noir. Tell me though, kitty, don’t you just love the outfit?" Adrien purred.

"Oh purr-lease bugamew - bugaboo- CHAT!" Marinette snarled under her breath, hitting her head with the baton in frustration. "Damn this thing is like auto claw-rrect when it cames to cat purrds."

Adrien's amused smile was full of affection as she got flustered and frustrated. "Do you wanna practice controlling them and call me back?"

"You’ve gotta be kitten me? Go through this again just to joke latepurr? No," she huffed.

"That’s my bug. Never knows when to give up," he chuckled.

She shifted anxiously in her seat. It was apparent to her that if she couldn't get through one conversation with Adrien without blushing or stammering, she was going to need someone with a cool head, who would keep her cool too. A real cool cat...

"Yeah, about that, um..  I wanted to let you know that... um... I wanna keep Plagg a while," Marinette said, uncertainly.

"What?" Plagg sounded surprised.

"What?!" Adrien sounded shocked. He shook his head, "I don’t think Tikki'll like that."

"Look, it won’t be purr long, but I wanna keep him until fursday - that’s getting annoying Plagg - because I have a daaa-" Marinette bowed her head and cleared her throat anxiously. She did not want Chat to think it was a date. If his reaction to her suggesting she liked someone else was anything to go from, it'd kill him if he thought she had a date. "a meet up with a furend and he’s gonna help me prepurr."

Adrien’s face changed from curious to suspicious. "Prepare for your meeting with a friend? Wait. Is it like..." his voice dropped to suspicious and tense, "a date?"

Her eyes were wide and urgent, and she shook her head so hard that the bell tingled, "No! No, no, no, no date! No! No, you couldn’t have gotten that more wrong-"

"Oh my God, it is a date!" He cried.

She began arguing, "No it’s not a paw-mise-"

He grimaced, "That's... awesome."

Her face fell and her argument died. "Pawsome? What'd you mean it's pawesome?"

"You've got a date... that Plagg's helping you prepare for... on Thursday-"

"Actually, it's on Friday, but I'll make sure Plagg's safe on fursday night."

Adrien frowned. "You wanna meet up the night before your date to swap kwamis, so you get the quiet one back for your date, and you won't have to deal with any interruptions? That’s..."

"Actually, I..." Marinette felt a knot in her chest and tried to shake it away with a cough. It didn’t move. "I'm sorry Tikki, I don’t want to take you. I love you Tikki, you’re purrfect and you're my best furend, but I gotta made a decision on my..."

" _Date_." The words were venom on his tongue.

“No need to be jealous kitty.” Her serious tone vanished with a gasp, “Hey! Look! no pun!” but when she saw his look, her shoulders sagged. "I'm sorry... I don't need the lecture. I'm gonna leave Plagg with Nino. He'll be purrfectly safe there."

"I know he will. But he's my kwami. What if there’s an akuma?! I can’t believe this!" Adrien threw his empty arm in the air.

"I'll expect it all on caturday, claws it’s kinda a long tail, and I hope mew can furgive me, but it does conpurrn mew, so I'm gonna hang up now, and hope you can punderstand latpurr, bye!"

She hung up quickly and a flash of green lit the room momentarily. She covered her eyes with her hands and she groaned heavily. Plagg folded his arms.

"There was no need for that last bit," he said.

"I thought if I threw enough puns at him he might be distracted for a while," Marinette sighed.

"You're going to try and get Chat to love you by pushing him away and stealing his kwami? That's not very Ladybug," Plagg warned.

"Ladybug has Tikki for a moral compass. Chats got you," Marinette said.

"I'll try not to be offended by that," Plagg huffed.

"You and I both know I could take you to Nino at any time. _You_ were the one insisting I shouldn't. _you're_ the reason we're in this situation. you're going to help _me_ figure out if I love Adrien or Chat Noir more," Marinette tutted.

Plagg straightened up eagerly. "I'm going to help you kill the love square?"

"It’s love _triangle_ , and yes. You gotta Plagg. Please," she begged softly.

There was a long silence between them as Plagg peered around the room slowly, thinking about how this could work. Then he put his hands on his hips and turned to face her. "You're gonna need to stock up on camembert."


	5. Chapter 5

It was the rough way in which she was treated that alerted Tikki to the fact this was not Marinette picking her up. Marinette was never rough with her. She never so much as bent an antenna. This was the hand of someone used to dealing with Plagg. He fought so stubbornly against his holder’s grip that they all learned to be firm but gently when picking him up. She'd felt this grip before. A dozen different hands. one grip.  
This wasn't Marinette.  
This was Adrien.   
This could be dangerous.   
This was going to be hard.

Adrien waved goodbye to Nino as he climbed into the back of his car and shut the door behind him. instantly his smile vanished, and he glared down at his pocket.

“Alright Plagg, you’ve been way too quiet, and way too well behaved today. What are you up to?!”

“Um, Plagg’s a little busy right now, Adrien, but I’m here if you wanna talk,” Tikki’s voice was quiet and muffled by his pocket.

Adrien’s eyes widened. “w-who are you?!”

“I’m Tikki,” Tikki dared to peer out of the pocket, “Ladybug’s kwami.”

“Wow! What – h-how – OH WAIT! Wait, wait, look away! Look away you can’t see me!” Adrien urgently held his palm over Tikki’s eyes, covering her entire body at the same time.

In a calm, but tight voice, mildly stressed out, Tikki explained, “I can look at you Adrien, it’s ok.”

Adrien licked his lips nervously. "But then you'll know who I am..."

"Adrien not only am I looking at you right now, I saw your face when we were trapped by Dark Owl, I’ve said your name three times now,"

Tikki said, trying to sound patience.

"So ladybug knows who I am?" Adrien’s hand fell.

Tikki folded her arms. "Did Plagg tell you who ladybug was?"

"No..."

"Then what makes you think I'd tell ladybug who you are?"

Adrien wasn’t sure if he was grateful or not, because just knowing who one another was would make a million things a million times easier, and even so he said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. But I need to get home to my earrings. I can't support my powers very well without my stone."

"Can't you use Plagg’s?"

Tikki pulled a face that a cute kwami like that shouldn’t have been able to pull. "Yes, but it drains my powers. It would take half the time before transformation after using my lucky charm."

"But you can make me ladybug?" Adrien asked, sounding a little more hopeful than he wanted to.

“Sort of… I would make you look like Ladybug. you would have your own version of her outfit, and you would be able to use lucky charm, but once you did-”

“I’d need to run immediately. Ding dong ditch,” Adrien sat back in his chair and sighed.

It was a risk. A big risk. If Ladybug didn’t want to know his true identity, it was even riskier.

“Is this a plan you want to attempt?” Tikki asked, calmly.

"No, but I'm not good at coming up with plans. That's her job. Plus I don't really see another option. She wants to keep her identity secret."

"I know, but I really think-"

Tikki was cut off by Adrien's phone ringing. A spark of hope lit his chest when he saw the caller ID. "Sorry, it's Marinette, I should take this."

Tikki's stomach dropped. "Uh oh..."

"Hey Mari-" Adrien blinked as Marinette didn’t pause to let him talk. She seemed distracted. Like she was talking to someone else, via what she said to him. It was strange. "uh, sure. I'm free Friday... Awesome, I’ll meet you by the-" Adrien blinked again and looked down at his phone frowning. "she hung up..."

Tikki stopped yanking on her own antenna in frustration when he turned to look her way. She put on a sugary tone to try and pretend everything was fine. "Problem?"

"No, no, I'm just hanging out with a friend after school Friday," Adrien shrugged, running a hand through the back of his head and looking distracted by it.

"Why do you sound worried?" Tikki asked, gently.

"I'm not. I'm used to her being..." Adrien groaned uncertainly, letting his arm flop to his side. "I don’t wanna say weird."

Tikki fought the urge to smirk. "Maybe she's just a little manic around you, because she cares about you."

"No, she basically never talks to me. We didn’t get along very well when we first met because of a misunderstanding, so I get it. But now she won’t even look at me. I think... when I got my tongue pierced I didn't think enough. Marinette thinks I'm a rebel trying to ruin my father’s company, which she loves because he’s her favourite designer-"

"I don’t know Marinette very well," Tikki lied, "but I know she's very understanding."

"I thought I could rebel against dad without hurting anyone else, but if it makes Marinette hate me-"

"I doubt she hates you Adrien. I'm sure she understands. Nino and Alya would have explained to her that you need to rebel, to get away from your father’s rigid schedule," Tikki argued calmly.

"Alya's probably daring her to hang out with me right now because she said she says she’s not a chicken," Adrien chuckled.

"Ah. Right. Someone’s probably daring her then." Someone was, but Tikki wasn’t so sure that it was Alya. “It's obvious, to me at least, that Marinette has a crush on - Chat Noir-"

Adrien snapped upright, eyebrows raised, "Chat Noir? Really?!"

"Well you know she thinks you're cute. Maybe that's distracting her. Probably because, for some reason, you look like Chat Noir?" Tikki offered.

Adrien gave her a baffled look. "She doesn’t like me... because she likes Chat Noir?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm merely suggesting that maybe she doesn’t wanna be around you right now because you remind her of her crush and she doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable," Tikki said.

"Marinette likes me?" His smile was like sunshine, relieved and delighted that he wasn’t hated.

Tikki regretted saying any of it. She didn’t want Adrien to change how he acted with Marinette, because that'd make Marinette think she had something to do with it, and Marinette was paranoid enough. But she couldn’t let Adrien think she hated him. That was too ridiculous.

“Adrien, I’m sorry to ask this of you, but do you happen to have any cookies? Anything sweet really? I’m just… I’m a little hungry,” Tikki asked, hopefully.

“oh, you eat sweets? Yeah, that seems about right. only Plagg’s gotta be awkward! Wait- if you’re with me, Ladybug has Plagg?” Adrien gasped suddenly.

“I certainly hope so,” Tikki said.

“oh great!” Adrien groaned.

“don’t worry, he’ll be perfectly safe,” Tikki insisted.

Adrien groaned again, "you don't understand! He'll tell her that-"

"you're hopelessly and completely smitten with her? he won't. He promised," she stated.

Whether or not she believed that wasn’t worth mentioning. Plagg had proved time and time again he could find a way to keep a promise and get his own way. Tikki hated it. Trixx was so proud.

"he – I – how did-"

Adrien's eyes winded with complete and total shock. Was he really that easy to read? Tikki wasn't even human and she could read him like a book. He tried to figure out and understand what the little kwami was explaining. He had to transform into Ladybug to take her back to Ladybug, find somewhere they could transform without seeing each other, swap kwamis, and run? It was a tall order. There had to be a better plan. Adrien climbed out of his car, hiding Tikki, and hurried up to his bedroom before anyone could try to stop him. as soon as they were safely hidden in here, he felt free to melt down.  
Adrien threw himself onto his sofa when Tikki hovered in the air beside him again, and screamed into his pillow. Tikki rolled her eyes. she pulled him upright to sit up on the sofa, and landed in Adrien's fringe, kneading his scalp to try and help him calm down. He was grateful, but it tickled slightly. that calmed him more than the massage. It was hard to stay worried while being tickled.

“I’m sorry Adrien, but we need to focus on the task ahead. You don’t have time to freak out.”

"So… I grabbed the wrong kwami?" Adrien asked, again.

"Yep. That's it. nothing that can't be easily fixed!" Tikki beamed.

The very idea of seeing Ladybug right now was enough to make him turn a darker shade of red than Tikki and his legs turn to jelly. Especially if he had to do it as Adrien, and not Chat Noir. Or – worse still – as Ladybug… He leapt to his feet and started pacing back and forth. His mind was in a whirl so he felt the need to move with it.

“you can't wait too long. If there's an akuma attack you need Plagg."

“I don’t even know where she lives! I can’t find her in a day when I’ve been searching for her for over a year! Plus… she doesn’t want to know who I am, what if she thinks I did this deliberately?”

Somehow Tikki doubted that she’d think that. "You have to face her eventually Adrien. The sooner the better! you need Plagg, and She needs me!"

Adrien groaned and sat down on his sofa, with his head in his hands. Tikki heaved a sigh. She had no idea how to get through to him. well, almost no idea. She just had to hope it wouldn't give him too many ideas about how this will end. Tikki fluttered down to land on the table in front of him.

"Think about this Adrien. How can you be Ladybug and Chat Noir if you can’t be Ladybug and Chat Noir? You are bonded by this. it will help you grow together, and work together, because you will understand each other better,” Tikki insisted.

“U-understand each other?” Adrien repeated.

“You love her, don’t you?” Tikki asked.

"N-no!” … “Yeah." Adrien sighed and bowed his head, "I want her to love me back."

It was all Tikki could do to stop herself from screaming SHE DOES! SHE DOES! JUST KISS HER! she thought about doing that a lot. Every time she did she took a deep breath. now she took a deeper one.

"It might work. If Plagg and I swapped, you would be responsible for catching and curing the akuma, and she is would be…" she gulped at the thought of Marinette having to be as reckless as all the other felines before her.

Adrien watched her face fill with concern, and it made butterflies – or maybe ladybugs – flutter around in his stomach anxiously. "I can't."

"You have to!" Tikki insisted.

Adrien looked worried. "She would never forgive me, if you got hurt."

“I’m more likely to be hurt without her,”

“That’s true… and Plagg’s likely to say something he shouldn’t…”

Tikki bit her lip. She feared he already had. “As soon as you transform, phone her. when she answers, you can explain what you want to do. where you want to meet.”

“how do I…”

"Just say spots on," She said.

…

It took a while for her to answer the baton, and he expected to see the usual spots that he was currently wearing, but Marinette's usual red and black suit never appeared. Instead, a leathery catsuit hugged her curves and a floaty scarf like tail ran down from her waist, not unlike Rena Rouges. A golden bell sat on her collar, resting between her - thankfully covered - breasts. A blue bow held it into place, just as it held her hair in a messy bun on top of her head. Two kitty ears twitched in her hair, and the whites of her eyes turned midnight blue. The best part, to Adrien at least, was the bright green paw prints that had replaced the spots on her earrings.

"I'm seeing spots!" She teased. At the exact same moment Adrien said, "You look like the bell of the ball." Which made Marinette roll her eyes and counter with, "I should have spotted that pun coming."

Adrien gasped as Marinette's midnight eyes turned to saucers and made him laugh. She looked so appalled as her hand flew to her mouth.

Adrien beamed. "Was that a pun?!"

"I think Chat got my tongue," she said.

Adrien beamed as her horror grew, "Again?! Oh my lady blesses me well today."

Adrien felt as if there was glitter sparkling in his chest to hear the puns that made her cheeks pink. She looked so cute as she got flustered.

"I guess I'm not feline myself - oh my God!"

"My lady I've never been this happy in all my nine lives," Adrien beamed.

"This is making me un-cat-fur-bell - PLAGG WHY AM I MAKING PUNS?!" Marinette squealed.

Adrien was cracking up as she paused to listen to Plagg. Her face fell and she rolled her eyes, which made Adrien wonder what Plagg had told her.

"He said you spin tall tails about where the puns come furom," She said.

She even smirked. Adrien smiled. She was beginning to enjoy the puns. He could see it in her eyes. Chat was going to be able to make so many more puns.

"Tell me though, kitty, don’t you just love the outfit?" Adrien purred.

"Oh purr-lease bugamew - bugaboo- CHAT!" Marinette groaned in frustration as she bowed her head to hit the camera on the baton.

Adrien chuckled to himself at how utterly dejected she looked after each pun. His thumb absently stroked against the curve of the yo-yo screen which would have been her chin if she had been there in person. His heart was practically glowing with affection as she got flustered and frustrated.

"Do you wanna practice controlling them and call me back?" He offered.

She glared at him, "You’ve gotta be kitten me? Go through this again just to joke latepurr? No."

The smile on his face grew warmer. "That’s my bug. Never knows when to give up."

She smiled and shifted a little, looking uncertain about what she wanted to say now. Adrien waited patiently for her to figure out what she wanted to say.

"Yeah, about that, um..  I wanted to let you know that... um... I wanna keep Plagg a while..."

"What?" Adrien asked in surprise.

"WHAT?!" Tikki screamed.

Adrien's heart beat faster. If this sweet and gentle bug was so vividly appalled by this suggestion, there had to be a reason for it. Fear gripped him.

What could possibly be so terrible?

"Tikki doesn’t like that idea."

"Look, it won’t be purr long, but I wanna keep him until fursday - that’s getting annoying Plagg - because I have a daaa-" Marinette trailed off a little, giving a sheepish cough into her cuff that made the bell on her collar bounce. "A meet up with a furend and he’s gonna help me prepurr."

Adrien opened his mouth and then shut it again when he heard Tikki's quiet gasp at the back of his mind. Suspicion crept up his spine that made him feel uncomfortable.

"Prepare for your meeting with a friend? Wait. Is it like..." he couldn't manage to make his voice clear since his throat was too full, "a date?"

The bell tinkled as she shook her head urgently, "No! No, no, no, no date! No! No you couldn’t have gotten that more wrong-"

"Oh my God, it is a date!" He choked.

The painful ball in his throat was something he never imagined she could cause him.

She began to argue but Tikki's voice was louder. "Stop that Adrien. She's your partner and your friend, but not your lover. It might hurt right now, but what if this boy makes her happy? What if this boy is everything she’s looking for? Don’t you want her to be happy?"

He grimaced. It ached that she could be happy without him, but she deserved all the joy in the world as far as he cared. He couldn't stand in the way. He swallowed back the ball. "That's... awesome."

She stopped dead to blink at him, "Pawsome? What'd you mean it's pawesome?"

Adrien's throat ached as he forced the words out. "You’ve got a date... Plagg is..." the betrayal felt like murder, "Plagg is helping you prepare... and on Thursday-"

"No, it’s on Friday, but I'll make sure Plagg's safe on fursday night."

Adrien tilted his head, finding it difficult to try and look at her. "You wanna meet up the night before your date to swap kwamis? so you get the quiet one back for your date, and you won't have to deal with any interruptions? That’s..."

Adrien's voice tightened as the ache in his chest slipped to his stomach, and made him feel almost sick with anger. Tikki was better than that. Plagg was a handful, but Plagg cared enough to try and help even if he was a little manic in how he did it. Tikki was sweetness and light. She would be quiet for Marinette and not betray her like Plagg had, but Plagg was going to help her and then she was going to get rid of him just because he was a handful?   
That wasn’t fair to Plagg!

"Actually, I..." She seemed even more uncomfortable as she coughed quietly again. "I'm sorry Tikki, I don’t want to take you either. I love you Tikki, you’re purrfect and you're my best furend, but I gotta made a decision on my..."

She trailed off, clearly feeling guilty, but Adrien ached with enough pain to stop him caring.

" _Date_."

His voice was harsher and darker than he meant for them to be, but he didn't let himself feel bad about it, even when she flinched. He knew he'd regret it later, but how could she betray Tikki like that? Poor, sweet Tikki, who wouldn't even tell him who she was, and desperately worried about getting back home to her.

How could she do that?

"I'm sorry... I don't need the lecture," Marinette said, softly, bowing her head. "I'm gonna leave Plagg with Nino. He'll be purrfectly safe there."

"I know he will," Adrien said, gruffly, "But he's my kwami. What if there’s an akuma?! I can’t believe this!" Adrien threw his empty arm in the air.

"You always have Carapace, and Rena Rouge will happily help you if you need her," Tikki said.

Her voice was tinged with hurt, but she didn’t seem surprised. Tikki had slightly expected something like this to happen. Plagg had his mind set on something, and Plagg and Marinette were very similar about their goals. They didn’t always think of consequences before acting.

Just ask Lila.

"I'll explain all of this on caturday, I paw-mise! Not now, claws it’s kinda a long tail, and I hope mew can furgive me, but it does conpurrn mew, so I'm gonna hang up now, and hope you can punderstand latpurr, bye!"

She vanished into a screen of nothing. Adrien sat, staring at his reflection in the yo-yo like he'd been shot. The spots on his mask over his eyes and nose hurt him even more.

"I'm sorry Adrien," Tikki whispered.

Her whisper felt like a roar in his mind, tearing him apart from the top to his tail. Except he didn’t have a tail anymore. Adrien felt the glow of his heart get too hot. Too bright. It burned so hot against his ribs he could feel the air in his lungs expand and the blood in his veins boil. Agony all over. Yet his vocal chords had snapped. He could barely breath. Speaking was impossible.

"Tikki..." it was barely audible above his breath, "spots off..."

A flash of pink lit up the room, and Tikki sat in his hand, gazing up at him with huge blueberry bug eyes full of pity.

"I don't think she meant to hurt you... Plagg's very persuasive... I'm sure this was party his idea," Tikki explained gently.

"How could she do this?" Adrien whispered.

Tikki desperately wanted to defend Marinette, but she couldn't figure out how when Adrien looked just so _hurt_. "You know Plagg-"

"How could she abandon you?"

Tikki did a double take as Adrien looked down at her, with the same about of pity he had given her. "Me?"

"I've known you two hours and I already know you're the sweetest kwami in existence. You’re kind and loving and loyal, and she's abandoned you... I don’t know how she could ever do that..."

It dawned on her then that they were pitying each other when neither of them needed pity. Tikki would return to Marinette in two days, after two days of decent sleep undisturbed by the girl busily working on dresses until far later than necessary. Plus she was going to get to tell Plagg off tomorrow. Adrien was going on a date with the girl of his dreams and he wouldn’t have Plagg there to ruin it for a change.   
There was nothing to pity.

Tikki took a deep breath and rested on Adrien's head gently, to reassure him, "Adrien, she didn't abandon me. She made sure I was with you, where she knows I would be safe, and then made sure you knew she would keep Plagg safe. Mar- Ladybug would never abandon me."

Adrien's voice was tight when he argued, "But-"

Tikki's calm tone was unarguable. "She chased a car all the way across the city to find me once. She left you to defend Paris in the middle of an akuma because I was sick and had to go to Master Fu for healing. This isn't her abandoning me. This is her demonstrating her trust in you."

Adrien frowned. "How?"

He raised his head in an attempt to see her on his head, so she moved to hover in front of him, with a serious look on her face.

"If she didn't trust you, she wouldn't have waited. She would have gone straight to Nino and demanded you go too. She'd never listen to Plagg if she didn't think I was safe with you. There’s trust here. A bond beyond all other bonds. You'll realise in time that if you open your eyes you'll see the things you want are right beside you."

"And dating someone else," Adrien sighed, burying his head in his hands as Marinette so often did.

Tikki's heart went out to him. She dipped down to the plate on the table and heaved a cookie up to dangle before him. He raised his head at the new scent.

"Want one of my cookies?" She offered.

A small smile curled his lips. Plagg never shared. He took it gently, and she moved to sit on his shoulder. "Thanks Tikki. Id better stock up on these hey?"

Tikki giggled brightly as she snuggled her head against his neck. His ears turned pink. He wasn’t used to physical affection from anyone but Chloe or Nino. It was nice. Especially when her little antenna tickled against him. He smiled. He was going to like having a kind kwami like her to stay.

Little did he know what she was planning to do when she got her hands on Plagg.


	6. Chapter 6

Alya batted Marinette’s arm to draw her attention back to her for the tenth time that morning, with a huff. She was trying to tell her about seeing the hero again - y'know that turtle one that hasn’t been in a fight yet - and wanted to know her opinion on why _he_ was able to run around Paris without Ladybug or Chat Noir caring, while Rena Rouge hadn't been seen in months. Marinette’s attention however, was on the door, and not her bitter bestie. She was staring at the door anxiously waiting for Adrien to appear.

"We’ve prepared for this. Chill," Plagg muttered impatiently, rolling his eyes.

"I'm just amazed you've finally got the nerve to ask him out," Alya teased.

"What if he tells that joke again?" Marinette whined quietly.

"He won’t, don't worry. He didn’t get it and asked Nino to explain. You should have stayed for that, it was funnier than Adrien saying it!" Alya practically cackled with delight at the memory.

Marinette gasped, filling with schadenfreude and grinning because of it. "Oh no poor Nino!"

No wonder Carapace had gone racing over Paris rooftops last night. Marinette would have had to outrun that embarrassment too. In fact it was Ladybug trying to outrun the mortification of falling on her face at Adrien's feet when she saw him hug kagami after her win, practically foaming at the mouth, that made Nino ask why she was going so fast for patrol. Ever since it was pretty common to see either Chat, Ladybug or Carapace running back and forth along rooftops in times of high stress.

Alya nudged her and dropped her tone, "Nino just texted. They’re almost here. Breath girl."

Marinette gasped and gulped at the same time, making the saliva go the wrong way and ending up in a coughing fit. Alya patted her back rolling her eyes but smirking.

Closer to her bag now, Plagg peered out and scoffed at her. "Damn kid you’re worse than Chat!"

Practically doubled over with burning lungs, struggling to get her breath back, Marinette felt further from dignified Ladybug than ever before. The sarcasm just slipped out. "Chat's really got a crush on me?"

Plagg groaned for the sixth time that morning. " _yes_ , he really has a crush on you."

"That bad?" Marinette asked.

"If I have to tell you that again, I'm gonna go crazy," he huffed.

"You’re already crazy," she scoffed.

"I'm not crazy! If anyone here is crazy, it's you girl! You're so crazy you can’t even look at him!" Alya argued.

Marinette straightened up in surprise. "I'm sorry Alya, I didn't mean _you_ were crazy, I just mean... I'm sorry."

"Yeah I know," Alya’s eyes twinkled, "You're such a dork!"

"Says you!" Marinette laughed.

"I love you too girl. Shh, here they are!" Alya dropped her voice so only Marinette would hear, "Remember, _breath_."

Marinette's heart beat hard when Adrien walked in smiling. The magpie in her cried out for a taste. Panicking, she leapt to her feet and threw an arm up to wave, crying, too loud, "Nino!"

Nino looked alarmed as Adrien looked confused and Alya dropped her head into her hands.

"Morning Mari," Nino said, slightly embarrassed.

Marinette hurried over to him to quickly she practically skipped. "Nino can I talk to you?" She glanced at Adrien momentarily, looking back to Nino when he looked. "Um, outside?"

Nino glanced uncertain at Adrien, and shrugged, "uh, sure?"

Marinette grabbed his shirt, snatched her hand back when she heard Wayzz yelp, grabbed his arm instead, and yanked him back out into the corridor. Adrien turned towards Alya for more information. Alya just moved her hand from her forehead to hang in their air, offering him nothing but a shrug. She had no idea what was going on, and she didn’t care anymore. It was hard to be surprised by anything Marinette did these days.

Adrien took his seat and turned back to face her. "What’s up with Marinette?"

Alya shook her head, trying to come up with a lie that didn’t make her look bad but explained her erratic behaviour. "She's got this crush -"

Adrien lit up, "Oh Chat Noir?!"

Alya’s expression changed to surprise. Marinette had only recently stated liking Chat, so how he knew about it she didn’t know, but she wasn’t about to let something she could use as a metaphor slip away. "Um, yeah, sure, on Chat Noir..."

Adrien leaned forward keenly, "Tell me more!"

If he was about to go out with Marinette, why was he so keen to know about her crush on someone else? On a superhero no less? Adrien may be a model, but he was no Chat Noir. He should be worried. Well he should be if it wasn’t so painfully obvious that Chat was desperately in love with Ladybug.  
Maybe this was the perfect metaphor then.

"Ok, so, she's got a crush on him that makes her crazy. She can barely talk to him anyway because he makes her crazy, and now she's going on a date with him-"

Adrien frowned suddenly, "She is?"

"Yeah..." Alya cleared her throat uncertainly. She was doubting her resolve now. Maybe she should make it clearer she was being metaphorical, "yeah. she’s going on a date. with her crush. To the cinema."

She couldn't have been more obvious, at least she thought she couldn't. Adrien was scratching his chin thoughtfully, clearly not listening to Alya anymore. "Wow... fascinating..."

Alya's hand fell as her shoulders sagged. While he wasn't listening she said, flatly, "You’re an idiot."

He snapped back into the room, "What?"

"I said she feels like an idiot," Alya corrected immediately, "because she really likes Chat, like _really_ likes him, but she likes this other guy that... she... met... online?"

Alya trailed off as she began to lose faith in the web of metaphors she was building. Adrien didn't pick up on that. He was fascinated to know that Marinette had a whole other life he didn't know about.

"Online?"

Alya nodded. "He's never seen her face, but he likes her for her personality because he doesn’t know who she is. Now she's gotta chose between some guy she doesn't know but likes her, and a boy who doesn't like her like that, but she’s crazy about."

"Wow. That's crazy," Adrien smirked.

"Yes," Alya sighed as Adrien grinned on, oblivious to the hints she was throwing at him. "Yes it is."

You’ve probably heard or read the word "shooketh" before online or in those teenage magazines. The look on Nino's face was the definition of the term. Nino looked as though he had looked into the eye of the universe and now everything that puzzled him now made sense. Even things he had never realised he didn’t understand. Adrien nudged him gently as he sat down slowly.

"You ok dude?" He asked.

"I'm..." he glanced back towards Marinette and stared for a moment, before shaking his head with laughter and looking back down at the desk.

Adrien frowned and glanced back to see Marinette fussing over her bag, and Alya wrinkle her nose. "Girl did you have cheese for breakfast again?"

Marinette snapped up to look at her like she'd caught out on a lie, "Huh?"

"Girl you gotta eat less. I love you but you stink."

"Sorry. It's camembert. It smells!"

"Yeah, delightful!" Plagg grumbled.

Tikki huffed under her breath as she listened to them argue about the smell of camembert. He was going to stink up her bag. Adrien heard her angry little puff which made him glanced over at Nino. He was wrapped up in his own mind, too distracted to pay attention to Adrien. Adrien looked down at his pocket.

"You ok Tikki?" He asked quietly.

Tikki looked up at him in surprise. She glanced back towards the table behind them. Plagg was always complaining that they were blind and couldn't see what was in front of them. If he was going to manipulate her Ladybug, well she was going to manipulate his Chat Noir right back!

"Turn around and talk to Marinette," Tikki urged.

Adrien frowned. "What do I say?"

"Try "hello Marinette, how was your day?" It works wonders," Tikki insisted, impatiently.

Adrien shook his head a little, looking slightly anxious, "I know I'm being paranoid, but Tikki, what if she doesn’t want to talk to me anymore? What if I did something she doesn’t like and I don’t know what?"

Tikki's face softened as the impatience vanished. "Adrien, all girls like a bad boy. You look like a bad boy, but you've got a heart of gold. That's _everything_ a girl wants."

"It is?" Adrien asked, uncertainly.

Tikki chuckled to herself, "You've got a lot to learn."

"But Marinette’s just a friend," Adrien insisted, choosing not to understand what she meant.

"I know she is. Which is why she's uncomfortable around you. Besides, she likes Chat Noir right? Why worry?"

Adrien turned to glance at Marinette. She was laughing behind her hand at something Plagg was complaining about. He'd wriggled his way up her sleeve and now sat on her shoulder, hiding behind her collar. Hers blue eyes sparkled like midnight sky full of stars. A strand of hair tumbled onto her cheek and she bent her head down towards her hand to brush it gently back to tuck behind her hair. Adrien gasped as it suddenly hit him just how attractive Marinette actually was. She and Alya were locked in conversation and Adrien shied back into his seat. He clutched his shirt above his chest as his heart beat harder.  
Marinette was _beautiful_. Smart and kind and warm and loyal and so very, very sweet. even if she wasn't exactly comfortable around him right now, she went out of her way to fight through that by asking if they could go somewhere dark where they could spend time together without her having to look at him. She was trying to keep their friendship, even though it made her uncomfortable right now. She didn’t blame that on him, or suggest it was his fault, she didn’t even tell him because she didn’t think it was his problem.  
Marinette was wonderful.

"Staring doesn't start a conversation," Tikki said.

"I..." Adrien croaked.

"Just say hi," Tikki pushed his chin towards Marinette pointedly, before darting back into his pocket.

Adrien cleared his throat uncertainly, "Hey, Marinette?"

Marinette was feeling a little high spirited right now. Plagg was teasing and joking with her, sarcastically, in between playfully joking with Alya. That, and the fact she was still giggling at Nino's vacantly shocked expression as he thought back over the times Ladybug - Ladybug he now knew was Marinette - had saved him. That bubble of joy in her made her turned straight to Adrien, as if he weren't Adrien, and smile warmly.

"Yeah?"

That warm smile felt dangerously familiar, as did the twitch in his chest he desperately hoped was a heart attack, and not what he thought it was. "I wanted... I wanted to ask... um..."

Alya rose an eyebrow at him, leaning on her arm to get comfortable for what promised to be an entertaining conversation.

"I - uh - to ask..."

Plagg rolled his eyes as Adrien stammered onwards. What did Tikki do to these kids?! "Put the idiot out of his misery and ask what movie he wants to see."

Marinette's mind was blank with shock that her crush was stammering like she did, and she could have sworn his cheeks were looking rosy. Not that she was looking at them. That ball glinting in his mouth was frustratingly distracting. With nothing else to say, she let Plagg be her voice.

"What m-movie do you wanna s-see?"

Adrien’s eyes widened at her in surprise, "M-m-movie? What movie? What movie do I want to see?"

"Adrien, calm down. Take a breath. She's just a friend, remember?" Tikki whispered.

Alya smiled as Adrien ran his hand through his hair and clearly had no idea what he wanted to say. "What moved dooo yooou wanna go see?"

"Me? Um... I dunno, something funny? I like those really awful old movies with the terrible puns. I have a soft spot for terrible puns," A soft smile crossed her face as she thought of Plagg being the source of Chat's secondary powers.

Adrien perked up in new hopeful surprise, "Yeah?!"

Marinette giggled and bit her lip sheepishly. "They make me think of someone really important to me."

Adrien's heart fluttered in his chest in a moment of pure and utter joy, before the guilt and betrayal crept up to drag the joy away. Ladybug had a date with someone else. Liking Marinette wasn’t a betrayal of any kind. But it felt like it.

"Marinette?" Adrien asked uncertainly.

"Yeah?" She asked quietly.

"Do you... like my piercing?" He asked.

She looked up in surprise. "Of course I do!"

He frowned. "But you've been avoiding me since I got it."

"I'm sorry, please don’t think I don’t like it, or that I don't like you, I do! I like you. Not like you - wait - not that I don’t like you, I do like you, I really like you- you're very likable - I like you a lot! I love you! _No not love you!_ I don’t love you! I don't like you! Love you! Oh!"

She pulled her head into her hands and dragged her face down into her arms. Adrien bit his lip and tried not to smile at her embarrassment, but it was hard. She was cute when she was flustered. He reached out and patted her head affectionately. Alya's eyebrows rose as did her smile.

"I was wrong Alya. _This_ is it. I'm going to drop out of school run off to Hungary and live in a cave until people forget my name."

"Don’t forget to write," Alya grinned.

"Don’t go until after we go to the cinema, I'd regret not saying a proper goodbye," Adrien teased.

Marinette froze up, but slowly rose her head in horror. The strawberry red drained from her face and she turned paper white to see him looking down at her. That little smile was affectionate, but seeing it made Marinette desperately wish for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. Alya was having the time of her life. This was better than Nino trying to explain the pun to Adrien.   
This was amazing.

"Get your head back in the game kid. He's sticking around this time. You're not a chicken remember? Say something. Anything! It doesn’t matter just _speak_!" Plagg urged.

Alya was shocked to see her poor awkward best friend straighten up and clear her throat awkwardly and talk to Adrien as she stared down at the table.

"Kevin and Perry Go Large is-"

"A film about teenagers trying to get laid," Alya pointed out quickly.

She was willing to watch her friend get flustered in class but allowing her to actively ruin her first date with her crush by making them watch an awkward film about losing your virginity while alone on a date, wasn't something a good friend did.

Marinette’s voice became tight. "Right..."

"It’s also not in the cinema. Hey, Adrien, you have a huge TV right? What if Mari brings some DVDs to your house and you chill there? Or, forget the DVDs, why don’t you see what you can find on Netflix? Netflix and chill maybe?" Alya grinned.

Alya ignored the glare Marinette was throwing her way. If she had laser eyes Alya would have no face.

"I'm not really supposed to have friends over during the week," Adrien said, apologetically.

"But you're always working at weekends," Alya said.

"It’s important to my father," Adrien said.

"We're gonna come back to this conversation because we have to talk about how wrong that is, but Marinette!" Alya beamed at her friend as she glared at her, wishing the ground would swallow Alya now, "You've got Netflix, right? You could hang in your room."

"Papa wouldn't like that," Marinette said, sharply.

"But we played video games in your room before?" Adrien said.

Marinette felt her soul tearing at the seams. "Yes... we did... um..."

"Imagine if there was an akuma right now? That'd get you out of this problem. Of course, then you'd have like three new problems at least," Plagg said thoughtfully.

"Not helpful," Marinette muttered through gritted teeth.

"Shall we just see what movies are on when we get there?" Adrien asked.

"Sure," Marinette breathed.

Adrien smiled and nodded before turning back around. Once he was looking back towards the front of the class, he heard Alya yelped in pain. He looked back to see Alya rubbing her arm but still grinning proudly as Marinette tried to bury herself on the table top. Adrien smirked to himself.

His friends were wild.

…

Tikki sat on the back of the sofa taking in the bedroom she hadn’t paid attention to the day before. It was _huge_ here. High ceiling, wide walls, he had space for a basketball net and a climbing wall. Clean and white and obsessively neat, it was nothing like Chat Noir's of the past. Although Chat Noirs of the past never had a maid to clean up after them. They just knew how to make the mess.   
Tikki snapped back into the situation as the white of Adrien's jacket swept past her vision. He was circling the sofa like he couldn’t bring himself to sit down. He needed a distraction. Tikki flew towards the open walk in wardrobe.

"What are you going to wear?" she asked.

"I've got an entirely tailored wardrobe, I'll look good no matter what i wear," Adrien shrugged.

"There's got to be something,” Tikki said, floating into the walk-in wardrobe curiously.

"There’s a different problem that's more important me,” Adrien said.

"What?” she called from the wardrobe.

Adrien's voice edged with nerve. "What do I do if Ladybug sees us?"

"Nothing. You're not Chat Noir right now. You're Adrien. Adrien doesn’t know Ladybug. He has no reason to worry about her opinion,” Tikki said.

"But I _am_ Chat Noir!" Adrien collapsed onto the sofa with a groan.

"But she doesn't know that. You two aren’t dating. She can't mind you dating someone else."

Adrien sat bolt upright and looked urgently towards the door Tikki had hovered through.

" _dating_?! Marinette and I aren't Dating."

"You're going on a date, aren’t you?"

"No. We're just two friends, hanging out."

Tikki's stomach dropped. If she knew Marinette, and She knew Marinette, she'd be treating this like a date and working herself up into a tizzy. Tikki didn't want to see Marinette hurt in any way. She glanced back towards Adrien.

"Does she know that?"

Adrien opened his mouth for an instant response, but then he was forced to pause for thought for a moment. He'd never explicitly said otherwise, but why would she think it was? They were just friends. She didn’t even like him half the time, they rarely talked, and she couldn’t say anything without stammering to him, or blushing, which was worse since his tongue piercing because he reminded her - quite rightly - of Chat Noir. She was his friend, sure, but he didn't like her like that... he had Ladybug for that.

A mass produced limited addition Ladybug t-shirt had once been released in Paris. Adrien had had to fight to get one. He watched Alya ruthlessly steal two from the pile Chloe was gathering up. It combined her two favourite things, pissing off Chloe, and celebrating Ladybug. Tikki grabbed the shirt and held it up to Adrien, grinning.

"Wear this."

Adrien’s face sank to see it. "Ok, I lied, it’s not entirely tailor made, please don't tell LB I've got this."

Tikki thought the shirt was cute. It was mostly black, but the sleeves that came halfway between elbow and shoulder were bright red with black spots, and a heart shaped ladybug sat across the chest. It was a subtle tribute to the love of their heroine - or it was supposed to be. Their heroine wasn’t entirely flattered when trying to fight the three akumas it caused within the space of a week. One because someone didn’t get a shirt, one because a shirt got stolen, and one because the shirt shrunk in the wash.  
Adrien had gotten one early (he'd gotten there three hours before the stall opened and ran into Alya) and now he had this shirt he had been proud of before Tikki started looking at him like that.

" _please_ don’t tell her."

Tikki giggled as he begged. "I'm not going to tell her anything. I'm not even going to see her until tomorrow."

His momentary smile faded at that. "I'm sorry I couldn't convince her to swap back."

"You tried your best, that's all I could ever ask of you,” Tikki’s smile never wavered.

"How are you so calm about this?” Adrien asked.

Tikki shrugged. She couldn't really tell him she was bored of Marinette pining for Adrien because Adrien was in love with Marinette, but Marinette kept pushing him away for Adrien. She could understand how Plagg felt right now, but that didn't mean she wasn’t going to give him a lecture about manipulating their charges like this.

"I wanna see you end up happy Adrien. You have a very pretty smile."

Adrien smiled instantly. Tikki was very cute and she liked his smile, and he _adored_ her. "How comes Ladybug got you and I got _Plagg_?"

"Plagg's not that bad!" Tikki argued, but she didn’t sound fully convinced.

Adrien grinned at her, because he didn't seem very convince either. "He can be. I mean I constantly stink of cheese these days. Mind you Alya says Marinette is starting to smell cheesy too. Maybe I rubbed off on her."

"Or maybe something else happened to make her need cheese," Tikki suggested, trying to nudge him gently towards the right answer.

Adrien wasn't fully listening because his thoughts were creeping in. "If Marinette thinks this is a date, it’s really gonna hurt her if I tell her I don’t like her like that."

She dropped the shirt as the pain shot in. Tikki didn’t want to think about that. She _hated_ seeing Marinette sad, and she _hated_ knowing she was partly to cause it today. Plagg's heart was in the right place. It always was. But he was the epitome of bad luck. Things constantly went wrong around him. Sometimes Tikki felt like a band aid trying to hold the world together.

"Probably..."

Adrien buried his head in his hands and groaned. "What do I do Tikki?"

 _Tell her that you're never gonna leave her! Tell her that you're always gonna love her! Tell her, tell her, tell her, tell her right **now**! _ Tikki swallowed back the need to yell that Plagg had trouble controlling. She kept her voice gentle. "You've got to be honest. Lying causes more pain than it saves in the long run."

He looked up at her with eyes wide and desperate and he said with a shaking tone, "I'm scared Tikki..."

Tikki felt the fear in his eyes. The years of loneliness he never wanted to go back to still haunted him. Marinette was a straying thread that threatened to unravel what he had and drag him back. Tikki laid a hand on his cheek gently and gazed back into his eyes. Adrien hadn't had someone treat him with such genuine care since his mother left them. It was odd, and addictive. Her soft voice was level but confident she knew what she was promising.

"You won't lose her. You might even help her. If she knows there’s no hope for the two of you, she might even move on to someone who really can make her happy instead of wasting time on something that's never gonna happen."

"Like Ladybug is doing?” his heart ached harder.

Tikki’s other hand reached up to his other cheek. "You deserve to be happy Adrien. If there’s the slightest chance Marinette can do that, make you happy, why waste it in the hope Ladybug will notice you back?"

Adrien gave a helpless shrug, but his voice was stronger than she expected. "Because I love her. I'm always going to love her. Marinette doesn’t deserve to be caught in the cross hairs just because I didn’t have the guts to say I don’t like her like that... she deserves someone who makes her feel like Ladybug makes me feel."

Tikki's hands slipped from his face nervously, "Are you going to call off the date?"

Adrien shook his head, "No. No that's not fair, she needs to be told in person that I... I just... I don’t want her to hate me."

"Hurt doesn’t equal hate Adrien. Even if she hurts for a while, or avoids you for a while, and if Alya goes with her so you see Nino less too, it won't last. Marinette is an intelligent, kind-hearted, loving, strong young lady. She'll understand. And in time, she'll be grateful..." Tikki's firmly promising tone faded as she added, under her breath, "hopefully."

"You really think so?” Adrien asked.

Tikki couldn't make promises. She was baffled Adrien hadn’t questioned why she knew so much about Marinette yet. She didn’t want to make him wonder if she could be Ladybug. Tikki laid her forehead against his, which warmed his heart a little.

"You're a sweet kid Adrien. You've got a heart of gold. Any girl would be lucky to love you,"

she said.

The corner of his mouth curled upwards which made his eyes warm too as he looked up at Tikki's eyes. "Ladybugs are known for good luck."

"Yeah, we're real lucky bugs," she smiled. She nuzzled him playfully for a moment, before diving down to lift up the shirt she had dropped and beam at him. "Now try on this shirt! I wanna see what it looks like worn!"

Adrien laughed brightly and took the shirt from Tikki. She covered her eyes with her hands and antenna as he pulled off his shirt. It was just manners really. Adrien tugged the shirt over his head. He'd snatched the first one he got his hands on, and it was a little tight, so it instantly puffed up his hair into a more Noir style. He looked over at Tikki. It surprised him that she had covered her eyes, and that made him wonder about Plagg.

Did Plagg get to watch Ladybug change?

Adrien shook the thought out of his mind. Plagg wasn't like that, despite what the jealously clawing at his chest would have him think.

"What'd you think Tikki?" He asked.

Tikki moved her hands from her eyes. when she saw him in that outfit, she gave a shrill little chirp, bouncing in the air and clapping excitedly. Adrien couldn't help grinning. She was adorable. Just adorable.

The question just kinda slipped out. "Hey, if Ladybug doesn’t want to take you on her date and Plagg's safe with Nino... do you wanna stay for another night?"

Tikki's mouth became a surprised little circle and her eyes shone, "You want me to stay?"

"I like having you around," Adrien shifted his leg sheepishly. "It’s been a long time since someone told me I was worthy of being happy."

Tikki's face fell into concern. "That's terrible!"

Adrien looked confused at her concern. "Is it?"

Tikki didn't want to pity the boy before her, but she just felt sorry for him. He was so very sweet and so very kind, and he deserved only the best from the world, which was all Tikki wished for him. If staying here helped that, then she wasn't going to let him down.

"I'll stay. You need someone to remind you you’re a person too. And to help you sleep," She said.

"What'd you mean?" He frowned.

"Your father told you to be in bed at half nine. It’s already eleven," Tikki gestured to the clock.

"It is?"

"You need sleep. You don’t want to be yawning when you let Marinette down.”

Adrien decided to sleep in his ladybug shirt and was beginning to feel relieved that he didn't buy the Ladybug pyjamas, because he'd feel foolish wearing them now. So he had to wear the bottoms of his Chat Noir pyjamas instead. They were thin black trousers with neon green paw prints all over them, and a green string in a bow just below his belly button. Tikki giggled at that, affectionately. Tikki ended up curled against his torso instead of curled on top of his stomach like she tended to with Marinette. Adrien craved the intimacy regardless.


	7. Chapter 7

As Adrien slept soundly, Marinette was tearing through the clothes in her wardrobe, mid breakdown, while Plagg watched on with more interest than he cared to admit.

"What am I going to wear?!" She whined.

"Clothes would be a good idea," Plagg chuckled.

"I don't have anything to wear!" She complained.

Plagg laughed and shook his head pointing at the growing pile of clothes behind him. "You've got plenty of clothes! Look at this! You've made your own clothes too!"

"But it’s not _right_!" Marinette yanked on her pigtails in frustration.

Plagg blinked repeatedly. "I don’t understand."

"That’s it! I'm just not going to wear anything!" She yelled.

"Daring!" Plagg beamed.

 _"because I'm not going!"_ Marinette snarled.

"Chicken."

"Yes. You're right Plagg. I'm a chicken. I'm..."

Marinette's hand rolled through her hair, knotting the knots she'd ripped out like four times by now. Her voice ached as much as she did, and she fell onto the chair like a broken girl. Plagg tilted his head slowly, making his ears flap. He hadn’t seen her look so anxious since Stoneheart. To be honest, he'd forgotten she could be. He wondered if Adrien had too. She was far surer of herself when she was Ladybug. Plagg was suddenly less confused about how Adrien couldn't recognise pretty, shy, sweet Marinette as dashing, brave, beautiful Ladybug.  
But he was baffled she couldn't see Ladybug in herself.

"I'm... _terrified_ of this Plagg... I've been hopelessly head over heels in love with Adrien from the moment he gave me that umbrella, so forgive me if I'm afraid of scaring him off and it utterly destroying me forever."

"Wow. You really like him, don’t you?" He blinked in surprise.

" _yes_ Plagg! I'm hopelessly and utterly in love with him, and it hurts it-" she groaned and buried her face in her hands, "it physically hurts that he thinks I'm just a friend... I can't go... it'll kill me. Alya was right. Paris needs ladybug too much."

Plagg frowned. "How'd you know he doesn’t think this is a date?"

"Because..." Marinette started sharply but trailed off.

Plagg wasn’t going to let her off that easily. "Because?"

"Because I never... explicitly... said... date..." she muttered, sheepishly.

"Oh Marinette!" Plagg was about to explain he would never have agreed if he knew, but she didn’t give him a chance.

"I know, I'm so stupid!" She whined, hiding her face again. "I'll act like I'm on a date and he'll be uncomfortable, so I'll try to brush it off as a joke, but Adrien will see right through me and I'll just _die_ right there. I'm not going."

"Marinette," Plagg began.

Her hands fell into her lap and she whispered, her voice shaking as she tried desperately not to break into tears. "I can't do it Plagg... it's better not to try than to have your heart ripped out, isn’t it?"

Plagg's heart sank. The fears returned to him. She was knocked back. He had gotten her a date and she had still been knocked back. Marinette could really get herself hurt, and Adrien would get just as hurt. This wasn’t his fault this time. This was her own fault.  
But Tikki was _definitely_ going to kill him.   
So if he was going to die anyway, there was no damn chance he was going to let her wriggle out of this date and hurt Adrien. He flew forward and pressed her cheeks together so she had to focus on him.

"Please don't chicken out. You’re one of the bravest ladybugs I ever met. You deserve to be happy. Adrien will make you happy."

Marinette pulled out of the grip and frowned at him. "Why are you so pro Adrien? I thought you'd be telling me to go for Chat..."

Another rush of guilt bit at her when she said his name. It wasn't like they were dating. They were friends. It wasn’t het fault he liked her. Besides, it wasn’t like going out with Adrien even though chat liked her wasn't a betrayal.   
But it felt like one.

"Marinette let me tell you something Tikki won’t want me to tell you. Ladybug and Chat Noir nearly always end up together. There’s a bond there. It's old as time. Fate has written who each miraculous holder will be, and that binds them together. You and Chat are bound. You'll both end up happy, either together or as friends. Don't cast Adrien aside because of fear," Plagg begged.

Plagg begging was similar to Nino begging. There was pride there It was more of a guilt trip than actual begging. And it worked a hell of a lot better.

Marinette cleared her throat and turned around to look towards the clock despite the tears blurring her vision, trying not to look as guilty as she felt. "What time is it? I need to get you to Nino before it gets too late."

Plagg lifted her phone to show her the time, "It’s almost midnight."

She gasped, " _no?!_ Is it?! Crap..."

Plagg didn’t want her to freak out like she was clearly about to, so he had to set aside the jokes and come up with a plan by himself for once.

"Calm down Marinette, you're gonna hurt yourself!" He eased her hands away from her pigtails before she could rip them straight off of her head. "you're going to see him at school tomorrow, right? I'll go with him then. No need to freak. It's just one more night."

"But Chat was going to collect you _today!_ he must be totally worried! Is it too late to call and apologise?" She asked anxiously 

"Probably His sleep is regimented. He still has a bedtime," Plagg said.

"He still has a bedtime? How late?" She asked.

"Nine thirty at the latest," he explained.

Instantly the anxiety fell into offence on his behalf. "That’s ridiculous, I haven’t been to bed before half ten since I was eleven! Especially when we've got patrol. No wonder he's always so manic, he’s excited to be awake so late. Poor Chat... Sometimes I end up staying up all night after patrol..."

"Do you think that's why you’re a little manic sometimes? Sleep helps you think things through, and you don't seem to do that," Plagg asked seriously.

Marinette shrugged sheepishly. "I have Tikki to think everything through for me, she's like my moral compass. Apart from that time I stole that phone. All three of them..."

"You stole three phones?! That's hilarious, I wish you were Chat Noir permanently," Plagg laughed.

Marinette wished that didn’t flatter her as much as it did. "Really?"

"Yeah! Sounds like fun around here. Adri- Chat Noir has a schedule for everything, and he _has_ to stick to the schedule. It's ridiculous, and it stresses him out so much he barely has time for anything. Sometimes I wish he'd break out and have a little fun, just so he doesn’t go insane," Plagg sighed.

Her voice filled with concern. "It’s really that bad at home?"

"You think he got his tongue pierced because it looks good? He wants to rebel against his dad, but old iron face would go off on one of his lectures - have you heard them? It’s like he’s a robot talking to his employee! "You have brought shame upon our family name, son. Only 99.9% on this test is correct. You have disappointed me greatly." I hate it there."

"I would too. I mean even when I work with my parents in the bakery they don’t talk to me like I'm an employee. When I failed my exam papa baked me a blueberry pie and told me to enjoy it because I was only allowed to eat brain food for a month. It lasted like a week..."

Marinette felt worse for Chat now. He had a bad enough home life already, he didn’t need his partner betraying him and dating someone else. And it wasn’t like she didn't like him. She just wanted Adrien more.

"Don't you think you should get some sleep though? So you don't fall asleep in class again?" Plagg poked her gently.

Marinette shook her head. "I'm not tired."

"Have you tried a big meal? Always makes me sleepy," he said.

"It’s midnight Plagg," she said.

"There's a reason they call it a midnight snack," he grinned.

"Good point! Let’s go!" She laughed.

In the kitchen the only light was Marinette’s phone’s torch. She knew her parents were long asleep by now, given that they had to wake up in a few hours, and turning the light on wouldn’t have been a problem, but she enjoyed the sneakiness of creeping about by torch light. Plagg on her head was kneading her scalp excitedly. It felt odd, but not entirely unpleasant.

Plagg cried hushed triumph, “jackpot!”

Marinette glanced over to see Plagg inhaling half a wheel of gouda. He smacked his lips with satisfaction and froze with his mouth open as a thought struck him. “I hope Tikki’s keeping Chat in check. He can’t eat anything too hard for another two days, or his tongue could get infected.”

“Kissing is off limits for him too then, I guess?” Marinette chuckled quietly.

“Like that boy could get anyone to kiss him, he’s far too busy writing poems for you,” Plagg snorted.

Marinette snapped upright and gasped loudly, “he writes poems about me?!”

“Shh!" Plagg hissed. They both paused to listen out for her parents, "I meant that metaphorically. Like he’s too busy chasing ladybugs to see the bakery.”

Marinette frowned at him, “in that situation, I’m the bakery?”

Plagg nodded. “yes.”

“and I’m the ladybugs?”

“yep.”

“And Chat’s going to slam into the bakery and get hurt?”

“I…”

Plagg wasn't sure what to say to Marinette now, because he was sure she was going to go into melt down mode again. And if she hadn’t been in the kitchen, pretending to be breaking into her own house to steal food without waking her parents, she probably would have.

Instead she grumbled to herself, “he’d swallow that stupid piercing… how am I going to deal with Adrien’s new look, when I can’t deal with Chats?”

“to be fair, Chat Noir is a mysterious hero, with leather and buckles and a piercing and a smirk. If he didn’t have cat ears, but he had eyeliner, he’d be the ultimate bad boy. Your friend Luka wouldn’t get a look in,” Plagg tried to keep the spite from his tone, but he loved Adrien, so Marinette wasn’t shocked to hear it.

Marinette smiled softly at the protective kwami. “he is pretty handsome, isn’t he?”

“prettiest kitty in the whole city, he says,” Plagg grumbled.

“If Adrien was a cat, he’d given he a run for his money,” Marinette teased.

Plagg went through the five stages of grief before replying. “it’d be a pretty close call, yeah."

Marinette gave a low laugh, slightly concerned, and slightly tired, “Adrien’s father’s going to kill him if he finds out about it…”

Plagg frowned, “Being a cat?”

“piercing his tongue,” Marinette smirked.

“Oh. Yeah. No. I don’t think so," he shrugged.

Marinette swung the torch around to him and got two shining balls as his eyes reflected back. She put a hand on her hip and smirked at him. “what do you know about Gabriel Agreste?”

“quite a lot more than you would think! I know, for example, he had a lot of jewellery that he could make Adrien wear. Twist anything to his advantage that old coot would,” Plagg huffed, spitefully.

Marinette laughed. “no he wouldn’t! you’re too suspicious."

Plagg bit his tongue again and picked up an armful of breadsticks just to change the subject.

“are these cheesy breadsticks?”

She shone the light on them, momentarily distracted from her macaroon hunt.

“yeah, take as many as you want, papa will think I’m stress eating again,” she said.

“aren’t you? you do seem to be stressed out by this “date” thing you’ve set up,” he said.

Now she was standing on the table top, reaching to the top shelf in search of the biscuits tin. "I hope Adrien isn’t freaking out… I’m going to freak when I see him. are you sure it’s too late to call him?”

“certain," Plagg said through a mouthful of breadstick, "These are good!”

“wow you love midnight snacks huh?” Marinette laughed.

“don’t get off topic!" Plagg huffed, "Stop thinking of this as a date. think of it as a… I dunno, a hang out. just you and a friend. pretend he’s chat noir. Treat him how you would treat chat noir."

Marinette's arm slipped from the shelf for a moment. “you think that would work?”

“worked on Chat,” Plagg shrugged.

The guilt came back and turned to defensive spite in her response. “Chat’s not Adrien.”

Plagg bit his tongue again and took a moment to compose himself. “Adrien’s got a crush on Ladybug, doesn’t he?”

“Apparently,” she grumbled again.

“So why don’t you act like he’s Chat, and you’re Ladybug, and see where it takes you,”

Plagg was gesturing with his breadsticks now, and the sweeping motion reminded him of some moves he saw at fencing. He playfully practiced them as the conversation moved on.

“As long as he keeps his mouth shut and we stay in the dark of the cinema, at least I won’t see the shiny thing that makes me go mad,” Marinette said.

“you’ve got issues,” Plagg said, jabbing at an imaginary contestant with his bread sword.

“I know,” she sighed.

“I enjoy them," he said, "No one likes a story where nothing goes wrong. It’s boring. Issues keep things fresh."

“you’re cute," she smirked. She snickered viciously and dragged the tin closer to her from the back of the top shelf. She held it close to her chest and climbed back down, pushed the last of the breadsticks towards Plagg. "Stuff this in your mouth and let’s get back to my room."

Back in her bedroom they sat on her bed, duvet over their heads, lit up by the phone torch. Between the snacks they were eating together, they were coming up with conversation starters for her to memorise in case things got quiet between Adrien and Marinette.

Ten minutes later a very full kwami was sitting on her chest as it rose and fell while she slept easy. It wasn’t the food that sent off in the end.  
Plagg's contented purrs were infectious.

...

Marinette stood in the empty classroom, holding Plagg out to Nino. both of them spent a while catching Nino up on the situation they had been living with over the last couple of days. Afterwards, there was a long pause as Nino took it in. Wayzz, who had come to rest on Nino’s shoulder and hear the story out of curiosity, looked towards his master, patiently. Nino had become quicker at accepting things now. it only took him half a day to accept that Marinette was Ladybug. it’d taken him almost a week to fully accept Wayzz. Now he was faced with Plagg and it only took him a minute or two to grin.

"If you transform into Chat with the earrings, does that make you Lady Noir?"

"Shut up Nino," Marinette said, unamused.

Nino didn’t notice the discomfort he caused. "From what I hear he'd quite like to change your surname to Noir."

"Shut _up_ Nino,” Plagg warned.

"Marinette Noir. Sounds like some kind of knockoff perfume!" Nino continued.

Wayzz, sensing the discomfort of Marinette, and how defensive Plagg was becoming, cleared his throat and said to Nino, quietly, "I think it may be best not to press this issue, Monsieur. Miss Marinette clearly does not wish to talk about it."

Now Nino looked at her, he could see the discomfort. A wave of guilt hit him, and he wrinkled his nose. "Sorry LB-DC."

Marinette snorted, immediately forgiving him, for Plagg’s sake as much as his. "How long did it take you to come up with that?"

"Alya has a tally of times 'Ladybug defends Chat' on her blog. She refers to it as LBDC when we talk."

"Good old Alya," Marinette tried to smile but her chest ached.

Ladybug defended Chat all the time. And he said it was awesome she had a date! He was ok with it! It wasn’t fair, why did she have to feel guilty about it?

Plagg turned in her hands to face her. "Well, little ladybug, I guess this is it."

"I guess it is. I'm gonna miss you Plagg. You're so much fun," she smiled softly.

"You make an excellence cheese stick. I'll make sure Adr- um, Chat, stops by the bakery to get some!" he smiled.

"You'd give me away," she warned.

"You'd be surprised," he smirked.

"He’s not _that_ oblivious. Chats far from stupid, no matter what his puns - your puns - make you think."

"You'd be surprised."

It was slightly odd to them that they really did feel like they were going to miss each other, even though they were probably going to see each other again when they found out who Hawkmoth was and it was safe to reveal their identities. Plagg's tail curled around his paws and his ears were flat on his head, and he gazed up at her with wide green eyes that Marinette thought was strangely similar to Chat's kitty eyes. They looked better on Plagg, but her chest ached for Chat.

"Hey, um... if things get bad at his place, I don't wanna add to the pressure... if you ever think I'm being too harsh on him, will you let me know?" she asked.

He tilted his head. "How'd you suppose I do that?"

"I don’t know, make him say a code work or something?" she shrugged.

"How about midnight snack?" he smirked.

"Sure, might be a bit conspicuous, but it'll do," Marinette ran a finger across his ear playfully and he purred.

Nino chuckled to himself as he held his hands out to Marinette for Plagg. "Yet another problem solved by food."

"You’ve got no idea how many problems food can solve," Plagg chuckled as he stepped onto Nino's palm.

Marinette scratched his ear again and said, "Be good Plagg."

"I'm always good! But I'm the God of bad luck. Things just tend to happen around me!" he argued.

"I'm sure Plagg will be fine," Nino said, lifting Plagg to his cap to sit on the brim while they were still talking, "Does chat noir have Tikki then?"

Marinette's focus moved from Plagg to Nino with a spark of worry. "He didn’t bring her to you?"

"I'm gonna find out who chat is?!" Nino gasped eagerly.

"Apparently." Her stomach twisted. Tikki was safe. She knew Tikki was safe. But not knowing where Tikki was when she was supposed to be _here_ , was nerve-wracking.

Nino grinned. "Awesome!"

"I think you mean pawesome," Marinette smirked.

"That’s just clawful,” Plagg grinned.

Wayzz rolled his eyes, chuckling to himself. Master Fu could pair together perfect partners, that much he was certain of. But sometimes, rarely but sometimes, Wayzz wondered if he got the kwamis the right way around. Plagg and Marinette seemed very well suited. She was clumsy too. Power of destruction could suit her pretty well.   
But Master Fu was a highly intelligence man. He gave Marinette Tikki because - Like Chat and Ladybug themselves - a kwami and their master must work as yin and yang to prevent unnecessary troubles. Like too much phone stealing. Marinette and Plagg had known each other for two days, and already they were causing trouble.  
Besides, Plagg had left an impact on her. A similar impact he left on Adrien.

"Remember Nino, you've got to keep Chat's secret under your hat," Marinette winked.

Plagg beamed with pride. "Goodbye Ladybug."

"Bye Plagg," she said, affectionately, before turning to Nino. "See you later Nino, when I come to get Tikki."

"Sounds good LB-DC," Nino grinned.

She smiled but rolled her eyes. "Bye Wayzz."

"Pleasure seeing you again Marinette," Wayzz closed his eyes as he nodded.

Marinette felt slightly empty as she walked away. It felt as if she was leaving behind something that she needed. it was like that moment when you’re walking down the street after leaving your phone to get fixed, and you reach for the space where your phone should be, only to find it missing.  
Marinette was rethinking her decision to leave Tikki behind when she went out with Adrien. But if Tikki wasn’t an option, she wanted Plagg. Marinette paused outside of the classroom door as she realised she wanted the support of a kwami - preferably her kwami - for long enough to hear Plagg talk to Nino.

"So, Nino, got any camembert?"

He sounded casual. Like he was talking to someone he'd known for years. But she _had_ known Adrien for years, so why couldn't she talk to him like that? That’s when she made up her mind. If Plagg could be casual around strangers, she could be casual around Adrien.

With or without Tikki.

...

Nino had barely sat down after dealing with Plagg pointedly winding up Wayzz and whining about cheese, when there was a tap at the window. A very familiar face grinned at him through the glass. The same green eyes, only they weren’t fully green anymore. And his hair was the same style but highlighted with red streaks. His tail and ears had vanished, and he had a red spotted mask instead of a fully black one.  
But that smirking grin?  
That was Chat Noir.   
No doubt about it.  
Nino heaved himself up out of his seat and hurried towards the window. He was a tangle of fear and excitement now. Marinette was Ladybug, one of his oldest friends was Ladybug, so he could only imagine who Chat Noir - the person who suggested he get Wayzz in the first place - could be.

he opened the window and in he came with the cat like grace Nino had come to expect of him everywhere but the battle field.

"Hey Nino, how's it going?" He grinned.

Something about him was different. Beyond the spots. He seemed nervous. Playing it down didn’t stop Nino from seeing it.

"You ok dude?" Nino asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm turtley pawsome," Chat grinned.

"Are you sure?" Nino asked.

"I uh," Chat cleared his throat and straightened up to face him seriously. "Look, I don't want you to freak out..."

"Ladybug already explained everything Chat, don’t worry, I'll take good care of Tikki. I even stocked up on cookies just for her," Nino promised.

Chat chuckled and ran a hand through his hair slightly manically, "I don't doubt that, I just mean... please don't freak dude."

"I promise you, after finding out who Ladybug is, I don't think anything with surprise me anymore," Nino smirked.

"I wouldn't bet on that," he muttered, before taking a deep breath. "Tikki... spots off."

Nino automatically reached up to cover his eyes as the pink light filled the room. Immediately he felt foolish. He already knew who Ladybug was, knowing Chat would just fill in the gaps. Then he felt a little weight land on his hat, tilting it forward with a familiar twinkling giggle.

"You don't have to hide Nino, we know who _you_ are!" Tikki beamed.

Nino's hand fell from his eyes to see her head dangling upside-down over the brim of his cap, down into his eyes, smiling brightly so her eyes shone as her antenna dangled directly downward from her head.

"Still as cute as a button huh?" Nino smirked.

Tikki giggled again, which gave Plagg time to slip further back into Wayzz's gramophone to hide from her. For his own safety, of course. Wayzz kept a careful eye on him. It wouldn't be the first time that a kwami fell into the mechanisms of his gramophone.

"Nino... You're gonna have to look at me sooner or later."

Chat's voice cut through Nino and made him realise he didn’t have much of a choice right now. The moment he looked up, he'd see Chat Noir's true face. And he already knew who Ladybug was. He already knew more than anyone else about the kwamis too. The mystery was going to be gone.

"Nino-"

"I know. I just want to take a minute..."

He took a deep breath and looked up. Adrien looked more anxious than Nino did. He gave a weak smile and waved awkwardly as Nino's jaw fell wide. As the silence lingered around them Adrien was in longing for Nino to say something, anything, but he had to settle for watching the cogs whirl in Nino's eyes.

"Um... can you... can you say... something? Please?" Adrien begged half-heartedly.

Nino's shocked expression faded as a smirk grew in its place. "Well that explains the mystery of why Chat wanted a tongue piercing."

Adrien laughed breezily but his voice was so tight with nerve that he squeaked a little. "You're not mad?"

" _Mad_? Why the hell would I be mad? Dude, it makes perfect sense! you're never around because you're always busy on photoshoots or fittings or whatever, which means you always miss seeing Chat Noir and Ladybug, apart from when you spent a whole attack with her and Chat was nowhere to be seen - why didn’t I notice this before?!"

Nino laughed but he felt like he'd just walked into a glass door. Sure, now he knew it was there it was obvious.

"I think the eyes, ears and tail probably didn’t help," Adrien smiled reassuringly.

"Don't be too hard on yourself Nino, you know who has a crush on him and _still_ can’t see who he really is," Tikki said, still clinging to his hat.

"Who has a crush on me?" Adrien asked, overly keenly.

"Mari," Nino said.

"Oh yeah, Alya said she liked Chat," Adrien nodded.

Tikki and Nino shared a look that became a silent conversation. Nino blinked at her pointedly, and Tikki shook her head to warn him not to bother.

"Adrien don’t you have a date with Marinette tonight?" Nino asked.

"It’s not a date! Marinette and I are just friends. You know I only have eyes for Ladybug," Adrien argued.

"But Ladybug doesn't like you, because she- OH." In that moment everything made sense to Nino. he became the one person in the city who could see the full picture.

Nino was the only person on the entire planet who knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that his friends, the super heroes of Paris, were idiots.

Nino had gone into buffering mode. Tikki leaned down to wave her hand in front of Nino's eyes. Wayzz tapped his nose, still watching Plagg cautiously, but Nino didn't react. Adrien turned his attention to Tikki.

"Are you gonna be ok here Tikki?"

"Yeah sure!" Tikki beamed brightly, "It’s gonna be fun to catch up Wayzz, we haven’t really _talked_ since Master Fu..."

Wayzz closed his eyes and nodded solemnly. "He is at peace."

Tikki patted his shoulder reassuringly, "I hope so."

"Talking of peace, am I to expect any tonight?" Wayzz asked.

Tikki raised a hand to her chest to swear a promise. "Wayzz, I'm not going to be any trouble. Not while Plagg is still with Marinette. But when I see him, I'm telling you, he’ll regret corrupting my Ladybug."

Wayzz's gaze trailed back to the gramophone, "I do not doubt that."

"Adrien, you need to go before you find yourself being late for Marinette," Tikki said, calmly.

Adrien frowned. "But Nino's still frozen!"

"You'll catch up in school," Tikki shrugged, before straightening up to go over what they’d been talking about before arriving. "Now remember not to treat anything like a date. Try not to be romantic if you can avoid it, but don't be too disconnected. She's your friend. Treat her like one. You don't have to tell her anything unless the whole date thing comes up, so try not to let it come up. But above all, _Don't_ _panic_."

"That's a lot to remember," Adrien said, uneasily.

"You're a smart boy, you'll remember it. Anything you don’t remember you'll do naturally because you're sweet as a cookie too," Tikki promised.

Adrien gave a soft smile. "I'll miss you Tikki."

Tikki nuzzled her head against his cheek again, "Good luck Adrien."

He patted her head with his finger and smile at his friend. "Bye Nino."

Adrien left while Nino was still thinking everything over. Marinette wanted Adrien so rejected Adrien. Adrien wanted Marinette so didn't even notice Marinette wanted him. Now they were all tangled together. The only mystery he had to distract himself from the frustration of his idiot friends, was Rena Rouge. The city had only seen her once, and Ladybug was the only person who knew who she was or why she'd vanished. She had to be someone Marinette knew. Adrien had picked him to be Carapace, so who would Marinette have gone to? Was there a possibility, any at all, that _Alya_ could be Rena?   
Nino was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn’t notice Tikki tapping him.

Wayzz laid a hand on Tikki's shoulder, "He's going to be like that for a while."

"Did Nino say he had cookies? Only using someone else’s miraculous stone is very tiring," her stomach grumbled to highlight her point.

"I understand. Let me go and see what I can find," Wayzz said.

He slipped out of the door towards the kitchen, leaving Tikki and Nino alone while Plagg remained hidden. The bang of the bedroom door shutting jolted him back into the room. He glanced around in confusion.

"Did Adrien go?" He asked.

"You just missed him. He had to meet Marinette," Tikki explained.

"Shame... I have a lot of questions," Nino frowned.

"You'll catch up in class," Tikki promised.

"I guess. Where's Wayzz?"

"He's being kind enough to find cookies for me in the kitchen."

"Oh, I know where they are, I'll go help him."

Tikki watched him hurry out of the bedroom, leaving her alone. Or so she thought. But there was a faint trace of Camembert lingering in the air that couldn't be put down to Adrien. it didn’t take her long to figure out where Plagg’s go to hiding space would be. she’d had to form a kwami chain to get him unstuck twice. His head was just too big to fit down the back.

Tikki watched him wriggle to try and get away when he realised she’d found him. her voice was low and haunting. “Don’t. You. Move.”

He gulped fearfully but tried to joke through the terror. “Hey Tikki! Long-time no see! How’s Adrien?”

Wayzz inhaled sharply as Plagg’s screams echoed out of the gramophone. Nino’s cup smashed on the floor as he dropped everything to race to Plagg’s defence. Wayzz raised his eyes to the heavens and prayed for the night to be swift, because there was no way it wouldn’t be painless.  
Not for Plagg anyway

…

Adrien grinned at Marinette and made her knees shake. His hair had been messed up by the wind, and his cheeks were flushed as he puffed a little.

“you ok?” she asked, smiling weakly.

“just ran - all the way here - I didn’t wanna be - be late!” he panted.

Marinette giggled a little. “I’d have waited.”

“I didn’t wanna keep you waiting,” he said as he stood upright again and stretched a little. “I should have limbered up first. I’ve got a cramp.”

“I can get rid of that,” she offered.

Both of them remembered when Chat Noir had gotten a cramp in his leg and Ladybug had sat on the edge of the roof, massaging him. both blushed a little at the memory. It was the one time she actually thought Chat would choke up a fur ball.

“N-no, it’s cool, I can walk it off,” he gave a queasy smile.

Marinette nodded. She looked away nervously and looked towards the concession stand. “popcorn?”

Adrien followed her gaze, and smirked. “let me guess, you want sweet?”

She shrugged, trying hard not to look at his mouth. “I like sweet.”

“That’ll be why you’re a baker’s daughter than,” he teased.

“Ha, yeah…” she laughed nervously, “I didn’t really get a choice about that though.”

“yeah… yeah neither did I…” he shifted his foot awkwardly.

There was a long silence between them that felt horribly awkward. Marinette thought back to Plagg. Just treat him like Chat he said. How would she treat Chat in this situation? He’d surely give some dumb attempt at flirting, so she’d flirt back. but Adrien’s piercing… was just like… chat’s… Maybe if she focused on that she could get past this and be all Ladybug about it.   
If only Tikki was there to help…

“Popcorn! I get that, you get the tickets?”

“sure, don’t forget the drinks,”

“red slushy?”

“how’d you know?”

“just a hunch.”

It was Ladybugs favourite too. Maybe Plagg was right. their opinions were very similar. Plagg was right about a lot of things. He was always so calm about things. Maybe that’s why Marinette had a crush on Chat. maybe if he was less like Chat, this would be less of a date…   
If only Plagg was there to help!

Marinette almost leapt out of her skin when her phone started ringing. Nino... what did he want? “sorry, I’ve gotta get this. I’ll turn it off afterwards. Go get the food, I’ll be right behind paw-mise.”

“paw-mise,” Adrien repeated.

“huh? I said promise! Silly kit- um, kid. go on, off you pop!” she urged.

Adrien had no idea what was happening anymore. Did Marinette always make puns? He couldn’t remember her making any before. Then again, they didn’t really talk much. he just nodded and did as she said. Marinette waited until he was far enough away to answer.

Nino was frantic and out of breath as he cried, “Marinette! You gotta come yet Tikki!”

Marinette’s heart missed a beat, “What, why?! Is everything ok?!”

“THE GOD OF CREATION AND THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION ARE FIGHTING IN MY KITCHEN DO YOU THINK I'M OK?!”

Nino shouted so loudly that Marinette had to pull her phone away from her ear and gave a father and daughter who had overheard them a forced smile to make them move on. Her gaze fell to the blonde model flashing that killer smile at the girl behind the counter.

“Give me a minute...”

Nino barely heard what she muttered before she hung up, so he instantly phoned Adrien instead. Marinette took a deep breath. she couldn’t decide if she was disappointed or relieved that she wouldn’t have to go through with the date. she was definitely relieved she would see Tikki again. she hadn’t realised just how deeply she missed her. now she understood how Alya felt without Trixx. She didn’t like it.

Once he hung up Marinette cleared her throat nervously, “hey, Adrien-”

“Oh, I’m really sorry Marinette, but father just had Natalie phone me. He saw my tongue in photos from a shoot. I gotta get home...” he pulled a face.

He didn’t want to lie to her. he didn’t want her to go back to avoiding him. but to his surprise, she seemed slightly relieved.

“That's perfect!” she sighed.

“Purrfect?” he repeated.

She blinked in alarm. She didn’t want him to think she didn’t want to hang out with him. “Sorry, not perfect, sorry, no, I... My friend needs me.”

“oh. So, what should I do with the popcorn?” he frowned as the box was handed to him.

Marinette smirked. “I know someone who’ll happily eat all that sweet popcorn.”

“you’ll take it?” he asked hopefully.

“yeah. I’ll take it.” she took the box from him and threw a piece into her mouth with a chuckle. Tikki was gonna love this. “I’m sorry this didn’t work out the way it was supposed to-”

His hand landed on top of hers. “hey, we’ll reschedule. I paw-mise. How about next cat-Saturday, you, me, Nino and Alya come back together?”

“sounds purrfect,” she smiled.

“good. I’ll see you at school Mari,” he winked.

Her heart stopped as she watched him hurry away. “see you at school Adrien…”

Tikki was very apologetic about ruining their date, but Marinette threw so many pieces of popcorn at her that she couldn’t help not feeling guilty. She loved popcorn. Plagg felt no shame about leaving Adrien in the lurch for a while, but he would tell Adrien why he seemed so annoyed at himself. Plagg was deeply irritated that he hadn’t figured out a better place to hide from Tikki until after the movie started. That way all phones would have been off and their date could have gone smoothly.   
but Marinette and Adrien didn’t mind. A week later they were back in that cinema lobby, holding popcorn and slushies and ticket stubs, and there wasn’t any awkwardness. And now Alya had Nino working with her, they made damn sure Marinette and Adrien sat next to each other, sharing one box of popcorn so their hands kept accidentally touching.   
and in front of their popcorn, hiding in the empty cup holder, where two kwamis who were no longer fighting, because they were both trying to look out of their masters.

The movie was ok, but the time they spent together was purrfect.


End file.
